Stories from starfish for whom it mattered

A nine-year old girl had met Usain Bolt when he visited Auckland. He inspired her to set some athletic goals, the ultimate one being to represent New Zealand. She needed help to pay for a coach and her family needed help with expenses to travel to national athletic events.

Over the space of seven years, she broke Age-group, Regional and National records for 100m, 200m and long-jump. Her focus on her annual, intermediate goals, her application to training and her development as a person leave the Foundation Trustees in no doubt that she will achieve her ultimate goal.

Teachers at a West Auckland school noticed that a 15 year-old boy was waiting for them to open the school buildings early each morning. He would go straight to the computer lab and begin coding while others would use the time before school to play computer games. He would stay after school until the buildings were shut. He had taught himself several coding languages on the school’s computer because his family could not afford a computer and connection to the internet and had the goal of working in software development.

The Starfish Foundation funded a computer and connection so that he could continue his development at home. They also arranged for him to intern with some software companies in the school holidays. This helped him to develop his skills and to establish networks within the NZ industry. One of the companies, a major player in the industry, helped him with university study after he finished school and he now leads a team of developers.

When the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake struck, students from Cobham Intermediate in Christchurch had won the right to represent New Zealand at the Future Problem Solving competition in the USA. The earthquake severely disrupted fund raising for the trip.

The Starfish Foundation provided funds for travel. Additionally, Starfish provided funds for 1,000 Emergency Packs, which the students put together and distributed throughout Christchurch.

A partially-sighted 23 year-old student was one of a family who suffered from a genetic disease that would result in the student and two of his younger brothers losing their sight completely. He wanted to complete the Outward Bound course. He had raised some funds for travel and the course, but needed more.

He had three goals:

1. He wanted to push the boundaries of his physical capability.
2. He wanted to use the evaluations from the course to create new goals and nurture the motivation to achieve them.
3. He wanted to be an example for his brothers and others in similar situations as to what could be achieved.

He completed the course, finished a law degree and is now leading a team in a public-sector organisation. Starfish also assisted a younger brother to complete the Outward Bound course four years later.

A 24 year-old woman was working for an engineering consultancy. She was passionate about environmentally-responsible development and had the goal of making a difference in this area. To develop her knowledge, she wanted to take the year-long Auckland Permaculture Workshop. Starfish funded her course fee.

She completed the course, part of which was the design for a sustainable unit that her parents could build at the rear of their home for elderly grandparents. The design won the Technosphere Award.
She has gone on to work for other consultancies involved in major environmental projects.