The Starfysh Story: Act 1
Dear Friends,
Back in 2009, after 17 years of going down every year to treat the sick in a remote village on a remote island off Haiti’s mainland, God seemed to stir in me a sense that there was something bigger. I acted on that stirring by sharing with a few close friends that I believed God wanted to make a dramatic impact on that tiny island and that he wanted to use me as an actor in that drama. It resonated with them and, in 2010, we decided on a title for our drama. We would call ourselves Starfysh.
Little did I know how He would begin to use our little grassroots movement to make an emphatic statement to the world that goodness is not dead, and to the given-up that there is still reason to hope. For if a place like La Gonave, home to our planet’s poorest, can be transformed to a place of thriving, could it not happen anywhere?
Since then Starfysh has grown from a small group of us delivering tarps to earthquake refugees, in a rescue-and-relief role, to an organization making a sustained, long-term impact by resourcing farmers, planting trees, providing clean water, and educating kids. Along the way, we have seen hundreds of people come to a personal faith in God as a direct result of our work there on the island.
The story of what is happening on an obscure island is also making an impact back home. In our world of worry, are not people drawn to stories of goodness? Ours is one such account. And here’s the thing, we don’t exist to be watched by an audience, as if a Shakespeare play. We are in Act 1 of a current-day drama, one that is continually adding actors and stagehands to fill out the plot and move the story forward. A drama being written even as it is acted out.
The world is waiting for the next great story. What it doesn’t know is that it will not come out of Hollywood nor will it be played by bazillionaire actors. And that it will not be simply a Broadway re-telling of a past true event. More, it will be a riveting, ongoing news story, one that we can’t wait to hear what happens next.
Friends, I believe Starfysh might be just one of those stories and I humbly ask if you would like to join me. Your presence on stage will add breadth and depth and strength to the storyline of how God is transforming an island.
Consider this your invitation to enter, stage right!
Your friend,
Steve Edmondson
President, Starfysh