““Good, regular communication with our supporters is a crucial part of our work “
Peter Bell, Head of Fundraising & Marketing ”

December 2024 Newsletter - Highlights - Please click here

Remembering Mark Aldrich

This month we wish to remember the life of Mark Aldrich, our Grants and Trusts Officer, who died suddenly of a stroke recently.

We have included his own testimony, and we have also received some testimonials from those who knew him on the Starfish team and some from those trusts who he was so active in engaging with.

We hope that this will give you a flavour of who Mark was and how much he will be missed.

July 20th 1963 - November 11th 2024

“I was born on 20th July 1963 at Dartford East Hill hospital in Dartford, Kent. The oldest son of Harry William and Norma Lesley Aldrich. I grew up in what I remember to be a very warm and loving home with 2 devoted parents and a little brother. I recall going to an old traditional Anglican church in Meopham, Kent, where we lived until we all moved to Crowborough in 1970.

I attended the local Parish Church All Saints and the Sunday school. I was also actively involved in the Campaigner uniformed youth movement. At aged 14 I was confirmed. I cannot recall having a particular moment that I accepted Christ or that “lightning” type moment. It was more like an evolutionary process. At 18, I left school and started University in Bristol and joined a Baptist Church in October 1984 and I felt God telling me to be Baptized by full immersion, which I did.

There followed several years wandering the desert both physically and spiritually. I heard God speak to me loudly in 2002 when I was in a particularly bad place. He reassured me in the dark that I was not on my own. It was at this time I had my first discussion with a Muslim Imam regarding beliefs.

Since 2008 I have been involved with overseas Mission, especially in a fundraising capacity. A few years ago, I made a pact with God asking him to allow me to get to a target of £1,000,000 (100% has gone to those missions I supported) before I reached 60. This was achieved in April 2022, 15 months before my 60th birthday!!!

I thank God that despite a number of challenges that have come my way, such as being left disabled by a brain injury in 2009, He has NEVER left me or withheld His Blessings. He has given so much including my family and great Christian friends and mentors. I await His next challenge.”

In recent years Mark lived in Heathfield and attended Union Church, where he encouraged the church to support the work of Starfish Malawi. He organised quiz evenings to raise funds and other events. Some of the church family also became supporters of the work.

This year Mark was also able to raise funds for the university in Moldova and see the heat pumps installed.

Testimonials

“It must have been about 10 years since I first met Mark. He was working for World In Need. When he left this organisation, we didn’t want to lose his expertise in finding Trusts and Grants as he knew quite a lot about Starfish Malawi. For the last 10 years he has raised over £500,000 for us. We always enjoyed the meetings with him, and one of his favourite expressions was DONM. We all wondered what it was, until we discovered, it was Date Of Next Meeting. I think they should have this on his gravestone! He will be very much missed by us because he always went the extra mile.”

Chris Knott, CEO Starfish Malawi.

“We called each other brother and that spoke a lot about your love and devotion to what you had come to love doing - working so hard to improve and change the lives of so many Malawians whom you had never met. You have left a gap which is hard to fill and our hearts are full of sadness. You will be greatly missed brother. Rest in peace in Him.”

Emmanuel Uwaezuoke, CEO Malawi.

“I worked with Mark since I joined Starfish Malawi in 2016. Mark was always a person who checked and rechecked information so that the proposals we sent to trusts were providing really good information. He was forensically diligent in how he did his research for potential funders and often told me how many trusts he was researching, sometimes in the thousands!. He had a sense of humour and wit which came over in conversations with him. His faith in Christ sustained him in his life and he was diligent in praying for the work of Starfish. Mark will be missed by all of us on the team.”

Peter Bell, Head of Fundraising and Marketing.

“Mark has been a great blessing to Starfish Malawi over the years. His diligent work in obtaining funds from Trusts and Grants has contributed to so many aspects of the work in Malawi. Mark's kindness, commitment and knowledge has helped to bring change in the lives of children and young people who live in poverty. We will always be thankful for his input into the work of Starfish and for his friendship”

Maggie Mitchell. Starfish Student Sponsorship Programme Team.

All of our projects have benefited from Mark’s amazing work in raising funds, here are a few photos where grant awarded funds have made such a difference to the children and their families.

Gateway which has provided 8239 reusable sanitary kits for girls since the project began in 2016.

Four GTOC nurseries providing quality early years education to over 4,000 children since 2003.

Bible Explorer classes in schools have seen 12,500 children taught the Bible each year.

Hope Clinic provides free general outpatient healthcare and specialised children’s and family clinics, including a AIDS/HIV testing and counselling service. Clinic attendances in 2023 were 44,167

We have received these words from our supporting partner trusts:

“Some years ago, a letter landed on our doorstep asking if we'd like to be a part of something very special out in Malawi. That letter, dated 25 June, was from Mark Aldrich, fundraiser for Starfish Malawi. Thanks to Mark's letter, we discovered the truly wonderful work being accomplished out in Ngolowindo and the equally wonderful people behind it.

You all know the rest of the story and many of you are a huge part of it. In spite of health issues, Mark never tired of doing good wherever that might be. He had no idea that one letter would result in so many accomplishments for those most in need, nor did he know the significance of its date. But God did. Thank you, Mark, for always believing in a better world, and for always striving towards it in spite of all obstacles. Rest in perfect peace, dear friend”.

Dee Pfeiffer and the team at Michael Jackson’s Legacy.

The Earth Child Orchard at Ngolowindo. The sapling fruit trees were funded by Michael Jackson’s Legacy, as a result of Mark’s research and contact with Dee and the team. Today they are grown into flourishing fruit bushes and trees, providing the children and community with much needed fruit to supplement their diet.

“The Kudimba team are deeply saddened to receive the news of Mark Aldrich's passing. We have been connected to Mark since 2019, through our mutual passion for and work in Malawi and our link with Starfish. We've stayed in touch regularly since then and Mark has been a wonderful source of support and inspiration to us.

He was always kind, considerate and rooting for our project. Thanks to Mark, we acquired some grants which made a real difference for the development of our project. We believe that he has been a part of the success of our project. His memory will live on in the further developments of Kudimba.

Dear Mark, we will miss your wise words, your advice, your valued input and regular updates and we are so grateful for everything you did for our project. Our sincere condolences to everyone at Starfish, to your family and friends.”

Maaike, Judy & the Kudimba team.