Our Story
Nativity Catholic Church’s Operation Starfish and its subsidiary ministries, Fish4Hope and Stella Marina, provide opportunities for encountering the poor of Haiti. Through community development, small business and safe childbirth projects, we make a difference one person at a time.
The story of Operation Starfish® began in 1998 with a late evening stroll by a man and his dog. Father Dick Martin, pastor of the Nativity Catholic Church in Burke, Virginia, and his pooch, “Pete,” were walking one night before Lent “chatting” about “what-ifs.” What if each family in the parish would forego one order of French fries? What if they would subtract one topping from their weekly pizza? How much money could they raise to help those less fortunate? Fr. Martin couldn’t believe the numbers when he calculated them: 2,500 families saving just 50 cents a day for the 40 days of Lent could donate $50,000 to make a difference in the lives of the poor. What a significant result from such an insignificant sacrifice!
This simple program of sacrifice was far more successful than Fr. Martin predicted. The parish family was enthusiastic when the idea was presented to them. That first year, Nativity Catholic Church raised nearly $67,000! They decided to use the funds to build 27 simple houses in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, working through the international Christian charity, Food For The Poor, Inc.
The name, “Operation Starfish®,” came in the second year. In February 1999, a dozen Nativity parishioners accompanied Fr. Martin on a pilgrimage to Haiti. They wanted to see for themselves what their parish had done to relieve the suffering of some of that country’s most destitute people. Bright smiles and beaming faces greeted the pilgrims as they reached the small enclave at Canapé Verte, in the hills near Haiti’s capitol, Port-au-Prince. They had hiked from the end of the dirt road across the hillside to see the one-room wooden houses their parish had built, and to meet the families who are now living with real roofs over their heads. These families had barely survived the horror of Cité Soleil, a slum clutching 500,000 of the poorest of the world’s poor in its grasp. The Nativity Catholic Church pilgrims were overjoyed at what their compassion had accomplished for the new home owners, who welcomed their visitors with open arms and full hearts.
Despite the progress at Canapé Verte, the Nativity Catholic Church pilgrims knew there was much more to be done for the poor of Haiti. At a prayer meeting on the first night of that pilgrimage, parishioners spoke of being overwhelmed with the scope of the problems. “How can we possibly make a difference?” one asked. Searching for an answer Fr. Martin shared the following story of the young child and the starfish:
A young child walked the beach at dawn and noticed an old man ahead picking up starfish and tossing them into the sea. Catching up with the man, the child asked why he was doing this. The old man explained to the child that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. “But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish,” exclaimed the child. “How can your effort make any difference?” The old man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it safely into the waves. He turned to the child and said, “It made a difference to that one.”
—Adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley
A parishioner spoke up after Fr. Martin finished the story. “Why don’t we call our work ‘Operation Starfish?'” he asked. Heartened by the Starfish story, and renewed by their pilgrimage, Nativity Catholic Church parishioners recommitted themselves to helping the poor, at home as well as in Haiti.
Over the years, Nativity’s Operation Starfish has continued the simple Lenten tradition of the wicker basket. Working with Food For The Poor, over 1,500 homes have been built in 12 Nativity Villages in Haiti. In addition to homes, each village development has clean water, sanitation, access to education and health care, and small business that sustain the communities.
Fr. Martin passed away in 2014, but his legacy lives on. Fr. Bob Cilinski, current pastor of Nativity Catholic Church, stated “There is no better way to honor and celebrate Fr. Martin’s priesthood and ministry among us than to support Operation Starfish which was so dear to his heart.” On October 6, 2016, Fr. Cilinski dedicated Good Shepherd Village in Haiti to Fr. Martin’s memory.