The beginning of Just One Starfish

Posted by Erin Jackson in Blog, Featured

I want to share the story of “Just One Starfish.”

You most likely have heard the modern day parable about the starfish.  There are different variations, but it goes something like this:

A man and his grandson are walking along a beach.  Because of the change in tides, they find before them thousands of starfish that have washed up on shore.  The grandfather realizes, if the starfish stay on the beach, they will certainly die.  The grandfather begins picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the ocean.  The grandson looks down the entire beach and says, “Grandpa, there are thousands of them!  How can you even make a difference?!”

The grandfather picks up a starfish, shows it to his grandson.  “It matters to this one,” and throws it into the water.

Our local community is full of problems:

15.9% of Arlington, TX residents live below the poverty level

22.3% of the children in Arlington (that’s 1 in 5!) are living below the poverty level

Most of the families living below the poverty level (51%) are households with a female head of household, no husband present.

(source: http://www.city-data.com/poverty/poverty-Arlington-Texas.html)

Our community is not alone in having problems, every community has its share of problems.  But the alarming part of the problem is the children that are getting lost in the shuffle.  When there are less adults available to provide positive role modeling, more children are left to figure things out on their own.  Children without role models encouraging them can fall into the trap of slipping grades, dropping out of school, rising crime, or worse.

We can’t solve all of the problems.  But we can empower high school students – who we believe are ready to use their God-given gifts for relational ministry – to mentor these at-risk younger children, we absolutely can make a difference, one at a time.  “It matters to this one.”

Just One Starfish works with local youth ministers to identify high school students that are hungry to give back to the community.  We train mentors and prayerfully match each mentor with an at-risk upper elementary school student.

We work with elementary school counselors and principals to identify upper elementary school students that need someone to invest their time in their lives.  Mentors and mentees meet once a week after school at the elementary school campus.

The objective of the mentoring relationship is to show God’s love by caring and encouraging.  Imagine the impact a caring high schooler can have in the life of a younger student – someone who’ll listen, help with homework, laugh and play together.  Someone who is there for the mentee every week, just loving them.

Thank you for coming to learn about Just One Starfish.  Whether you’re a youth worker, student, parent, teacher or friend, there are ways you can help support and grow this ministry.  Your help is needed and together we can transform our communities.