The story is told of a man who was walking along a beach in early morning. He noticed that the tide had washed thousands of starfish up onto the shore. Ahead, he saw a boy picking up starfish, one by one, and tossing them back into the ocean. The man said to the boy, “You can’t possibly rescue all of these. The boy bent down picked up another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. He turned, smiled, and replied, “I rescued that one!”

That caused the man to stop and think. He then leaned over, picked up a starfish, and joined the boy in his task.

BibleTelling has developed a one-on-one adult literacy program. The lessons include 30 Bible stories and take a person from a reading level of grade 0 to 5 in less than a year. While this program is used in homes, schools, and churches, it is especially popular in prisons. Project Starfish is our effort to fund this ministry.

60% of prison inmates are functionally illiterate,
and 70% of inmates who leave prison without learning to read will return to prison —
but only 16% of inmates who leave prison after learning to read will return.

Inmates may be paid to tutor other inmates, but Project Starfish funds cover the cost of the materials.