In 2012, DFW supported Starfish One by One by funding an education and internship program to empower girls in Guatemala. The class graduated in November 2014 and are moving on to start businesses or continue their educations. Read more. 

A mother and daughter are walking on a beach covered with starfish that have washed up on the tide. The mother watches as her daughter picks up just one of the starfish and prepares to throw it back to the sea. The mother asks, “Why save that one if you can’t save them all?” The daughter replies that it will make a difference to this one. And she tosses the starfish back to the ocean, where it will thrive.

The origins of that story are not known to us, but the co-founder of Starfish One by One — Connie Schlumberger — said it was the inspiration for the name of the organization she helped to start in 1998.

In 2012, Dining for Women featured Starfish One by One in Guatemala, providing $40,000 to support a class of 76 girls in a program to help them attain marketable skills or to pursue an education track that would lead to a university education. Our funding also supported an internship program, providing stipends for girls who were employed by local businesses and learning on the job.

Earlier this month, our girls graduated. Executive Director Travis Ning sent us this link to a video celebration of the graduations. “These are the girls who were served by DFW. They made it!,” Ning wrote. “Congratulations to the DFW community also for this achievement.”