An Evening for the Stars...CT style!

Beth & Jenn with former Starfish volunteer and photographer for the night, Maria!

A few weeks ago, we held another successful, "Evening for the Stars," this time in Windsor Locks, CT.  For the third time now, friends of Starfish gathered together for a night of good food, great company and a chance to learn a little bit more about our programs.  

Delicious buffet dinner

The night started off with some social time to browse the silent auction items and participate in a 50-50 raffle.  This year's auction not only featured several items from Ecuador, but also many local products.  In total there were over 35 items up for auction!

Auction Items from Ecuador!

Once all of our guests had arrived, we sat down for a delicious meal of rice, beans, enchiladas, chicken & more.  We shared with our guests about the need for Starfish and shared some of videos of our students. 

Guests Nadia, Joe, Matt, Rachel, Liz, Alyssa, Jenn & Jeff

As dinner was winding down, we had one last call for the silent auction before our keynote speaker, Don Awalt, gave a heartwarming and thought-provoking reflection on his recent trip to visit Starfish in Guayaquil.

Don during his reflection

All in all, it was a great night to share with friends, and a very successful fundraiser.  Between ticket sales, auction, raffle and general donations including those received from friends who could not attend, we raised 10% of our total budget for the entire year in just one night!

Guests Gabi, Julie, Shane, Nicole & Marcus

See our newsletter for official numbers, and if you don't already receive it, don't forget to sign up!

This night would not have been possible without the dedicated help and organization of many volunteers like those pictured below.  Thank you, gracias, from the bottom of our hearts!

   

 

Ayudante Update from: Guasmo!

This week we get the chance to hear from our "Ayudantes" in Guasmo about the beginning of the school year there!

"During May and June, we set up a schedule with the parents to help us with snack.  So far, everyone has collaborated and the kids are satisfied with the snack they are given.

In the Starfish Foundation in Guasmo we have 2 groups:

Group 1: The students come Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.  In the morning we have 7th, 8th and 9th graders, and in the afternoon we have 10th, 11th and 12th grades.  In each group they do their homework, and during free time we do ice-breakers.  The new students and the old students get along very well, there's a lot of friendship and everyone helps each other.

Group 2: The students come Tuesday and Friday in the morning and they are in 6th and 7th grade.  They do their homework and during free time we do ice-breakers.  The new students and the old students get along very well, there's a lot of friendship and everyone helps each other.  They really like the ice-breakers and other activities, and they have a lot of ideas.

We also had a parents meeting to explain the new rules, values and snack system.

In the foundation, we also go on field trips, and one of those was the Integration Day when we spent a morning playing sports with the Scholars.

From,
Yuliana, Cynthia, Lissette, Betsabeth & Marcos"

Ayudante update from: Flor de Bastión!

Today our Employees or Program Leaders  (the "Ayudantes") share with us a beautiful reflection about the beginning of the school year at our Flor de Bastión site...stay tuned next week for the Guasmo updates!

"Hi!  Here we have a very friendly environment where some of our most important values include: respect, fellowship, humility and mutual cooperation between us and the students.

We have three groups during the week, and each one is different from the others. One of these groups is the group with the youngest students, which is also our most active group.  Then we have our morning group which is a little quieter and always gives a 100% effort in their work, and lastly the second afternoon group which is a little more challenging to work with - some are quiet and others talk a lot, but all have dreams and goals to achieve!

We as employees and leaders always try to be patient and also to get to know each student better.  We share our friendship and our knowledge with them.  Even so, there are some things we are still working to improve, and every day we strive to be better.  That's a little of what is going on at the foundation.

Peace,
Jessica, Tyrone, María, Cecilia, Kevin & Jasmin"

You might notice a new name on that list - Find out more about the newest addition to our Starfish team, Cecilia, over at our Employees page!

January Meeting - Recycling!

For our January monthly meeting we did a recycling projects with the Scholars.  First we talked about the importance of recycling and then we made recycled paper!  A few days before the students brought in a bunch of old papers that there were going to throw away.  We ripped them up into little pieces and let them soak in water for a few days.  When it was time for our meeting, this is what took place:

First we had to blend the paper and then spread it out on a piece of cloth.
 Here, Milena, Ana & Eddy are helping with that process.

Pamela & Cristhian working together to get rid of all the excess water.

A group of Guasmo students working together!

Once we got rid of the water, some of our students like Ana got creative with some designs .

Here is one of the finished pieces of paper!

After the student meeting, we had a parent meeting with a guest speaker who helped facilitate a conversation about spending time in family, in hopes that our scholars continue to have support both at Starfish and at home.  Pictured below are two Starfish moms participating in the icebreaker!

Barbara, mom of Starfish Scholar Elian.

Paola, mom of Starfish Scholars Maria, Steve & Briggette.