Starfish Projects has evolved out of the life-long love for children, especially babies, of Janice Spencer who is regarded as our visionary.
In 1996 Janice heard about the organisation SA Cares for Life and found out that she could take care of unwanted or abused babies in her home as a Registered Place of Safety. That was the beginning of a new phase in her life, initially caring for countless babies at home, and then later serving as the manager of Abba House, a house for babies and toddlers under the control of SA Cares for Life
In 2020 during the ‘year of Covid-19’ Janice, having left the employ of SA Cares, along with Riana and other ladies who served alongside Janice in various roles, established Starfish Projects Voluntary Association.
The initial vision was to care for vulnerable and unwanted babies in family settings where babies would receive one-on-one love and care, but through the many years of serving the community in other ways in the past, and then seeing the ravages which Covid-19 and the associated lockdown caused, it was clear that Starfish Projects which would continue with the work of caring for babies in Temporary Places of Safety, needed to broaden its vision and be structured in such a way that it could meet the many needs of our society following a project approach.
Going forward
We are able to realistically address and initiate targeted actions to alleviate the the pressing needs in our society
A fundamental objective of Starfish is to continue with and further develop the extensive network of partners who are made up of sponsors, business representatives, medical service providers, donors, and similar charitable organisations to ensure that it is not only delivering services, but also acting as a catalyst for development and growth of the humanitarian organisations in its reach.
Short term goals
Our Commitment
Our focus will always be on honouring our partners and sponsors who make sacrifices to enable our work and chiefly our Father who has given us the passion and ability to serve
Our primary reason for our existence is to serve, but we recognise that we must provide an effective and sustainable organisation which cannot function without its staff and volunteers, so we remain committed to ensure our people are cared for and enabled to continue their service through us.
Our organisation is accountable to our Governing Body which will be run in compliance with the requirements of good governance as required by King IV, and all relevant legislation.
We recognise that all support we receive in ‘cash or kind’ is given by those who share our concern for the needy, and accordingly we will endeavour to do everything we can to achieve maximum effectiveness through our work and support to the needy, as well as the other organisations with the same objectives.
We also recognise that what we receive is given in good faith that it will be managed and applied with care and conviction, and in accordance we commit to full transparency to all our supporters for their support, as well as the overall affairs of the organisation.