Our Hearts Are with You

Our hearts are with our entire Starfish family during this time. We know that for many, this is a challenging and isolating time, and we want you to know that we’re thinking of our students, families, staff, volunteers, donors, and supporters. We frequently talk about the “Starfish family,” or “la familia Starfish,” as our kids say! We believe community, family, and connection is more important now than ever.

Our students, their families, and our staff are currently safe in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Though the situation has become challenging in Ecuador (as it has worldwide, affecting many of our supporters), we are grateful for technology to keep in touch even more with our students during this time. It’s currently “summer vacation” in Ecuador, so our students are at home, and our staff are working from home. Stephanie and Fred, our incredible program manager and education manager, respectively, are working virtually with our educators and the rest of our staff—conducting meetings and educational sessions via online platforms.

School is scheduled to start in a few weeks, but will likely be virtual education, posing new challenges to our students who don't have ways to connect at home. We are preparing to support our students, staff, and families in all ways possible. We keep all of our families in our thoughts as they experience economic hardship, and are among the most vulnerable to the disease due to lack of access to adequate healthcare and sanitary conditions. Once the plans for the new school year are clearer, we will assess what kind of varied services Starfish may be able to offer virtually to support our families through this challenging time.

All of our staff and many of our volunteers are presently spending extra time keeping in touch with Starfish students and families, to keep our community strong. Globally, many of our volunteers have also been reaching out extra to each other—and we encourage you to do the same. If you need some positive content online, check out our recent 30-day gratitude series on Facebook and Instagram—it’s quite heartwarming! Additionally, we hope you’ll consider joining us for a fun virtual night on April 25th to connect with other Starfish supporters, and even hear right from one of our Scholars live!

We hope you continue to look at Starfish as a place of hope, joy, and positivity. If there’s anything we can do to support our Starfish family in this time, please let us know.

Thank you for your continued support of The Starfish Foundation.

Peace,
Jenn & Beth
Co-Founders, The Starfish Foundation