The Starfish Foundation is a Greek non-profit organization and was founded by restaurant owner Melinda McRostie in October 2015 in response to the refugee crisis. Its local members started helping refugee shipwreck survivors brought in by the Hellenic Coast Guard in late 2014. Molyvos is located on the island Lesvos was one of the towns with the biggest influx of refugees in 2015. The foundation ran OXY transit camp in the north of the island in late 2015, through which numerous refugees passed in less than 4 months. The Starfish Foundation currently coordinates the response to shipwreck emergencies, and has volunteers working in Apanemo camp run by the IRC in the north of the island, and inside registration centre Moria in the south of the island.
The Starfish Foundation was originally funded by tourists who paid off supermarket bills, but is now formally registered in Greece (EL997256514) and receives funding from private people around the world. The foundation is called Asterias in Greek, and aims to help not only refugees, but also locals coping with the crisis.
The Aims of Starfish Foundation
The aim of "ASTERIAS - STARFISH non-profit organization" is the moral, counseling and practical help to vulnerable people and groups of people who temporarily or permanently residing in Lesvos or elsewhere, and generally people or groups who are socially excluded or at risk. This assistance will be through social processing activities and services described in the company's purposes. To achieve the objectives of the "ASTERIAS-STARFISH non-profit company" might employ personnel.
The Vision of Starfish Foundation
To continue filling the gaps that are brought to our attention.
We were here at the very beginning, a group of people who had no experience dealing with this kind of a crisis, and we feel rewarded that we have assisted so many people, in this difficult ‘journey’, with a great resilience and dedication. We take pride in our ongoing humanitarian work, especially our current involvement with the unaccompanied children and the families in need.