Samaritan Ministries

Founder's Statement

From my own past experience (as well as involvement with others of similar backgrounds of abuse and neglect), I know that it is more difficult for us to see God as a loving Heavenly Father, than it is for people who have been raised in a loving and healthy family environment.  In many instances, I have seen those who are overcome by life's difficulties live in a cycle of making poor choices because of the emotional turmoil that indwells them from negative experiences of the past.  Many of these individuals live in hopelessness and see no way out.  Yet, some of us have found a way out.

This is where Samaritan Ministries comes in.  I believe, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan, that we must see with eyes of compassion and reach out to those who are in despair. When we provide the means for their healing, even if it means taking them out of their present environment, this allows them to see God as a loving Heavenly Father -- a Father in whom they will be able to trust, and to see themselves as persons of worth and value.

About Our Starfish Logo

Based on the story by Loren Eisley...

I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise to walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.

As I approached, I sadly realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves," the youth replied. "When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea."

As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, strectching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear to me and I countered, "But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference."

The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, "I made a difference to that one."

I left the boy and went home, deep in thought of what the boy had said. I returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping the boy throw starfish in to the sea.