The Starfish story - an inspiration

Of the hundreds of thousands of men and women incarcerated around the world - we can only reach the smallest handful. So why bother - can it make a difference?

Here's a story to inspire the heart:-

One day an old man was walking along the beach. It was low tide, and the sand was littered with thousands of stranded starfish that the water had carried in and then left behind. The man began walking very carefully so as not to step on any of the beautiful creatures. Since the animals still seemed to be alive, he considered picking some of them up and putting them back in the water, where they could resume their lives.

The man knew the starfish would die if left on the beach's dry sand but he reasoned that he could not possibly help them all, so he chose to do nothing and continued walking.
Soon afterward, the man came upon a small child on the beach who was frantically throwing one starfish after another back into the sea. The old man stopped and asked the child, "What are you doing?"

"I'm saving the starfish," the child replied.

"Why waste your time?... There are so many you can't save them all so what does is matter?" argued the man.

Without hesitation, the child picked up another starfish and tossed the starfish back into the water... "It matters to this one," the child explained.


As each of us matters to God - so each life touched in some way is important and each letter or book can be life-changing for the person that receives it.

We know from the letters we receive that isolated prisoners are so often so happy to receive a letter or parcel and simply to know that they have not been forgotten by the world & that somebody cares.