The past 2 weeks have been quite eventful and significant. Eventful for Starfysh. Significant for what we want to do in Haiti.

Eventful: Our xray equipment finally cleared customs this week and has made safe passage across the sea to a small hospital in the seaside village of Anse-a-Galets. We can now send our technicians to install it, followed by an xray technologist who will inservice the staff on its use.

Eventful: We delivered the supplies for feeding the school children (cook pots, cooking burners, tableware, serving supplies, etc.) on a container in Grand Rapids, Michigan this week. It departs next Friday for Haiti, where it will need customs clearance before we can deliver it to the school. Next month we will travel down to purchase and assemble the things that can be obtained in country: large propane tanks, connector hardware, fuel, etc. We will retrofit an old kitchen that was used long ago. Back in its day they used charcoal for fuel (which is still, sadly, Haitiʼs main fuel source for cooking food). Charcoal comes from tree wood and we have determined that we will not use it. Haiti needs to keep her trees.

Significant: After a long wait, Starfysh this week received official recognition as a “public charity,” with the following determinations:

• Starfysh is exempt from Federal income tax under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
• Contributions to Starfysh are deductible under section 170 of the Code.
• Starfysh is qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers, and gifts under section 2055, 2106, or 2522 of the Code.

The effective date of this exemption is retroactive to the date of Starfyshʼs formation: February 3, 2010.

We can now move boldly forward. We will make a formal announcement and public launch soon in the near future. Stay tuned.