Helping hurting children and their families in the name of Jesus Christ.
The “Call”
Christ’s Starfish Foundation began on August 7, 2006, with an event that Carldon Lahey thought would take his life. In actuality it was our Lord calling him to begin a ministry that, over 7 months later, would become Christ’s Starfish Foundation. For the last 16 years, through the efforts of an amazingly dedicated and supportive Board, extremely effective leadership in each city, and hundreds of hard-working volunteers, Christ’s Starfish Foundation has touched the lives of approximately 12,000 children with support totaling around 1.7 million dollars.
$1,147,641 of Family Support
As of December 31, 2023, our total support to the families of these deserving children is $1,147,641 to 2,718 families. This is in addition to Christmas presents delivered to approximately 11,211 children valued around $710,000. When CSF began as described above never in our wildest dreams did we imagine this. When our Lord called us, we did not even know where we were going or what we would be doing. Like Abraham when Jesus called, we obeyed.
Partners Needed
As we move through the COVID-19 years and continue our journey with our Lord we need partners. We feel our Lord calling us to assist more non cancer children and their families in additional hospitals and cities. Please know, very importantly, we are one of the few, if not only, organization focused on providing support for non-cancer conditions. In a vast number of children’s hospitals, and all 13 of the hospitals we currently serve, over 80% of the patients are non-cancer. Please consider partnering with us with your donation on this web site, sponsoring an event, or asking others to join us in this journey with Christ. 100% of your donation will go directly to our work as our Board pays all our administrative expenses and we have no salaried employees.
Thank you for your consideration and may God bless.
An Update
Our Story
Christ’s Starfish Foundation is a 501(c) (3) Christian organization that helps hurting children and their families children at 13 hospitals in four states including Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Indiana. We do this by providing two services. First we provide support to the child life specialists for all of the hospitals we serve. One of the biggest ways we do this is to provide Christmas presents to the children who are in the hospital on Christmas Day.
We also provide support to the families of children with non-cancer illnesses. The hospitalization of a child requires that at least one parent be with them during their stay. This often results in missed work and no pay. Examples of expenses we may help with would include rent or mortgage payments, electric bills, phone bills, gas expense, and food.
What’s in a Name?
Some people ask about our name. Have you ever heard the story of the little boy picking up starfish on the beach? He picked them up one by one andput them back into the ocean. A man who had been watching from far off approached him and said, “Son there are hundreds of starfish on the beach, you will never be able to save them all.” The little boy stooped down,picked up a starfish and with a grin on his face, tossed it into the ocean. He then turned to the man and said, “I made a difference to that one.” At Christ’s Starfish Foundation that is all we are trying to do. We are trying to make a difference, one hurting family at a time.
Hospitals We Serve
Wolfson-Jax
Shands-Gainesville
Sacred Heart-Pensacola
St. Joseph's-Tampa
Arnold Palmer-Orlando
Egleson-Atlanta
Scottish Rite-Atlanta
Hughes Spaulding-Atlanta
Brunswick-Wolfson satellite
Blair Batson-Jackson
Peyton Manning-Indianapolis
Riley-Indianapolis
Lutheran's-Ft. Wayne