Ch. 13: Generosity at Work
Mary Over Martha
From Striving to Abiding
Monthly giving creates space for ministry to move from striving to abiding. At a recent gathering, one of our monthly partners shared a powerful picture through the story of Mary and Martha of Bethany:
“Monthly donors bless ministries with the gift of being Mary instead of Martha.”
When support is consistent, ministries are no longer driven by urgency—they’re grounded in presence. Right now, you can help create that kind of space in two very real ways:
Teacher’s Salary Grant | Joysprings Educational Centre
Just $100/month covers the full salary of one teacher in Kibera—bringing stability to the classroom and consistency to every child served.
Missionary Housing Grant | Familia Menendez
We are just 6 $100/month monthly partners away from making this grant sustainable long-term for Willy, Sofia, Daniella and Valeria Menendez.
This is the power of monthly giving— not just meeting needs, but sustaining the people called to meet them. Would you prayerfully consider becoming one of the monthly partners who helps make this possible?
Joysprings Educational Centre
Meaningful Momentum
The 2026 school year at Joysprings Educational Centre has begun with meaningful momentum.
Classrooms are full—281 children now filling the school with energy, hope, and possibility. New students have been welcomed in, including 20 children who were once living on the streets without access to education. These precious ones are now stepping into a place of safety, consistency, and care. Backpacks have been placed in the eager hands of students and two nutritious meals are being served each day to every learner.
Because of the Teacher’s Salary Grant, something powerful is happening beneath the surface—expanded care for students. With salaries covered through the generosity of this community, tuition funds can now be redirected to provide scholarships and essential learning materials for the Joysprings students.
What we continue to see so clearly is this: the strength of this ministry is found in its teachers.
They are the steady presence.
The familiar voice.
The ones who show up—day after day—with patience, faith, and a deep sense of calling.
It has been amazing to see how the teachers are being poured into as well—through mentorship, spiritual formation, and intentional development. Positioning them so that what they carry into the classroom is not just knowledge, but Christ-centered love that leaves a lasting imprint on every child they serve. This is how transformation takes root— not just through programs, but through people who remain.
Impact Snapshot
•10% growth in student enrollment
•Through scholarships 20 vulnerable children have been given a space in the classroom instead of on the streets
•28,100 meals provided to Joysprings students so far in 2026
How You Can Join This Story:
• Pray for wisdom and provision as the ministry continues serving vulnerable children
• Pray for strength, unity, and good health for staff and teachers
• Pray for continued sustainable resources for the feeding program
• Pray for grace for families working to provide a future for their children
Partner With Us.
DONATE & HELP FULLY-FUND THIS GRANT.
To date the Teacher’s Salary Grant is 41% funded. We have raised $12,902 of our $31,200 goal with $18,098 left to go.
Many supporters choose to provide the cost of one teacher’s salary through a monthly gift of $100. Donate today to help us fully fund the Teacher’s Salary Grant.
Familia Menendez
Making Room For Presence
This season with Familia Menendez has been marked by answered prayers and expanding vision.
What once was a longing has now become reality—the prayer house in Antigua is now open every day of the week. Worship and intercession are rising daily, with voices filling the space from morning to evening. There are, quite literally, watchmen on the walls—a steady offering of prayer that is strengthening something far deeper than a schedule… it is establishing a Kingdom foundation.
And from that place, the work is multiplying.
Willy and Sofia have received a team of young adult women missionaries. They have been pouring into this team and equipping them to carry prayer and worship back to their own cities in the USA. Additionally since returning from the Middle East in the Fall the Lord has strategically been positioning Familia Menendenz to activate the corporate church in Guatemala. Churches across the nation of Guatemala are being trained and strengthened through their ministry. Since stepping into this new chapter of ministry in Guatemala, the Lord has given Willy and Sofia a bold vision: to see a house of prayer established in all 23 departments of the nation. Step by step, in quiet obedience, that vision is beginning to take shape.
But behind this growing movement is a very practical need—a place to remain.
Stable housing allows Familia Menendez to continue hosting, discipling, and building what God is establishing in this season. It creates the consistency needed for this work to deepen and multiply.
Impact Results
The Antigua House of Prayer is now open seven days a week, with daily worship and intercession
Hundreds of patients received free medical care and ministry during a week-long outreach with Healing Nations in February
A team of missionaries is currently being trained in building and sustaining Houses of Prayer
Street evangelism is taking place twice weekly throughout Antigua
Saturday night church services have launched, drawing both local Guatemalans and missionaries
How You Can Join This Story:
• Pray and believe for prayer houses to be established across Guatemala
• Pray for continued healing and salvation during future medical outreaches
• Pray for success and perseverance in Familia Menendez’s language studies as they learn to speak Turkish
• Pray for open doors to return to North Macedonia for evangelistic ministry
Partner With Us.
DONATE & HELP FULLY-FUND THIS GRANT.
To date the Missionary Housing Grant is 39% funded. We have raised $4,366 of our $11,060 goal with $6,694 left to go.
Many supporters choose to help make this grant sustainable long term through a monthly gift of $100. Donate today to help us fully fund the Missionary Housing Grant.
Jorge & Carmelia Silva
Feed the Vulnerable
Through our partners Jorge & Carmeli Silva, the Senior & Youth Hunger Relief Grant is bringing consistent meals and Christ-centered care to some of the most vulnerable in Caimito—where food insecurity affects nearly 40% of the population and many go to bed hungry.
What began in 1986 as a simple act of obedience—feeding the elderly—has grown into Community of Love, now serving nearly 200 people daily through meals, emotional support, and spiritual encouragement.
Because of your generosity, this initial $5,000 grant has already been fully funded. In response to such strong support, the grant has been increased from $5,000 to $10,000—fueling even greater impact in the year ahead.
On their recent trip to Cuba, Jorge and Carmeli were able to distribute the first round of grant support to Community of Love, visit the ministry firsthand, and deliver meals to homebound elderly who would otherwise go without eating.
In one home, they met a woman suffering from a severe untreated condition. They prayed with her, encouraged her, and are now working to make a complex, life-changing surgery possible.
This is the impact of your giving—meeting urgent needs while restoring dignity, purpose, and hope.
Impact Snapshot
170 meals served each week
150 seniors fed, discipled, provided health-focused activities and emotional support
20 of the most high risk received meal deliveries to their homes
20 high risk youth fed
How You Can Join This Story:
Pray for the training for agricultural leaders and Kingdom entrepreneurs
Pray for provision for feeding programs serving elderly adults and children in Caimito
Please pray for Jorge and Carmeli as they navigate the ministry through a successful transition to their own nonprofit organization.
Please pray for Jorge and Carmeli as they prepare to equip and care for pastors throughout Latin America in 2026
Partner With Us.
DONATE & HELP FULLY-FUND THIS GRANT.
To date the newly increased Senior & Youth Hunger Relief Grant is now 54% funded. We have raised $5,476 of our $10,000 goal with $4,524 left to go.
Donate today to help us fully fund the Senior & Youth Hunger Relief Grant.
Pastor Dan Carroll
Equipping African Pastors
Pastor Dan has just returned from his first of three ministry trips to Africa this year—and what unfolded across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania was nothing short of powerful.
From Nairobi to Fort Portal to Tanzania, he spent over two weeks teaching on discipleship, the Kingdom of God, and how to build healthy, lasting ministries. More than 800 pastors and leaders across three nations were poured into through teaching, prayer, and personal ministry—many arriving weary and discouraged, yet leaving strengthened, encouraged, and renewed in their calling.
In Uganda, every pastor in attendance came forward for prayer—each one carrying burdens, each one in need of encouragement. By the end of their time together, what began under a weight of opposition shifted into a tangible sense of breakthrough, healing, and hope. In Tanzania, that same hunger continued, with leaders responding deeply to the Word, the presence of God, and receiving prayer for fresh impartation.
Doors are now opening across the continent, with invitations to return and minister in additional nations. What began as a series of three trips is quickly becoming an expanding work of strengthening pastors, equipping leaders, and building the Church in places hungry for truth and encouragement.
Impact Snapshot
Completed the first of three Africa trips in 2026, ministering across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania
Taught and discipled 800+ pastors and ministry leaders through conferences and church gatherings
Prayed over 300+ individuals in Tanzania for impartation, calling, and spiritual renewal
How You Can Join This Story:
• Pray for strength, encouragement and a supernatural baptism of the spirit for pastors attending these gatherings
• Pray for wisdom and discernment for Pastor Dan and his wife, Gale, as they follow the Lord’s leading through Africa in 2026
• Pray for lasting fruit from the training and discipleship
• Pray for provision for every conference and outreach
Partner With Us.
DONATE & HELP FULLY-FUND THIS GRANT.
To date the African Pastoral Care Grant is now 96% funded. We have raised $145,435 of our $150,000 goal with $4,565 left to go.
Donate today to help us fully fund the African Pastoral Care Grant.
Alyssa Hammett
Reaching the Unreached
In the months ahead, we have the opportunity to send Alyssa Hammett into the Middle East—a region where access to the Gospel is limited, but where we believe God is moving in powerful and unseen ways.
Alyssa carries nearly a decade of missions experience and a deep calling to equip and send Latino believers into the nations. This April, she will travel to Turkey and surrounding regions to strengthen Houses of Prayer, encourage long-term workers, and come alongside local communities through worship, intercession, and relational evangelism.
So much of this work begins in hidden places—through trust, presence, and prayer. Seeds planted faithfully over time begin to take root, growing into communities of faith.
How you can join this story:
Pray for open doors, protection, and Spirit-led encounters
Pray for the strengthening of local believers and ministry leaders
Pray for unity within the team as they prepare to travel together
Pray for a deeper vision for what God is doing in the nations
Pray for open hearts among the people they will minister to
Partner With Us.
DONATE & HELP FULLY-FUND THIS GRANT.
To date the Evangelism in the Middle East Grant is now 60% funded. We have raised $1500 of our $2,500 goal with $1000 left to go.
Donate today to help us fully fund the Evangelism in the Middle East Grant.
LeAnn Wright
Equipping Puebla
This Spring, LeAnn Wright will travel to Mexico to train and equip local churches in building Houses of Prayer—spaces where worship and intercession become a steady foundation for the Kingdom.
LeAnn has spent the last five years serving in Guatemala, helping raise up and disciple believers with a heart for the unreached. Her calling is clear: to see a generation formed in God’s presence and sent to the nations—especially to the hardest-to-reach places of the world.
Houses of Prayer are more than gatherings—they are places where spiritual hunger is cultivated, where missionaries are strengthened, and where the groundwork for the Gospel is laid.
How you can join this story:
Pray for unity, hunger, and lasting fruit in the local church
Pray for strength and clarity as LeAnn leads and equips
Pray for protection and strength as LeAnn prepares for the trip
Pray for bold faith among believers in Puebla
Pray for revival and salvation across the city
Pray for wisdom in preparing teachings for the church
Celebrate With Us.
THIS PROJECT IS FULLY FUNDED
We are honored to steward the generosity that made this possible!
100% To The Field.
Alabaster Foundation is a family-operated nonprofit connecting generous donors with the calling and work of missionaries around the world.
Every grant is crowdfunded through grassroots generosity and prayerfully vetted—ensuring your giving directly supports Christ-centered ministry across the globe.
We are fully volunteer-led, with no paid staff. Because our operational costs are fundraised separately, 100% of designated project donations go directly to the field.
If a project is fully funded or changes, donors are given the option to redirect their gift or receive a refund.
