The starfish story is the inspiration for our charity. We aim to inspire and enable people to become volunteers to use their time, talents or finances to impact people and communities.
What is the starfish story?
The story is told of how, early one morning, an old man was walking along the seashore and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see. Off in the distance, he noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often, and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea.
The boy came closer still, and the man called out, “Good morning! What are you doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up, and replied, “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The storm tide has washed them up onto the beach, and they can’t return to the sea by themselves. When the sun gets up, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. What difference can you possibly make?”
The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”
