Recover, Rebuild, and Reclaim Lives

A View of Home

I can see it so clearly now. There is this community, it is almost like its own little town within a town. I would say it’s kind of like a compound, but then the imagination digresses to scary armed hold offs with the government that end all wrong. So no, not compound. Maybe more like those little tiny towns for kids where you take your littles to this place that seems to have everything for its own pretend functioning little community for them to play. Only this community is not for play, but for real. For keeps.

There are homes, tiny ‘neighborhoods'. There’s a laundry mat and a daycare. There are businesses like mechanic shops, firework stands, therapy centers, medical facilities, a church, etc. Why a community within a community? Because this place is special. It is safe. It has purpose. It’s a family. It is needed. This is a structured incubator and greenhouse for broken lives to find healing and to grow strong, to rebuild and reclaim shattered lives. Lives that have been forgotten. Lives abandoned . Lives lost to addiction. This is an Alabaster community.

The LORD gave me this vision, this assignment, this ministry. I did not ask for it, nor dream it up myself. There was never a time I thought to myself “Gee, I would love to work with people trapped in addiction. I think I would love to open a recovery home community!” But there is no mistaking when God is speaking and leading. This is HIS vision. I know this because this is God’s heart. He sets captives free. He rescues prisoners. He sets the lonely into families. He heals the brokenhearted. He turns ashes into beauty. He makes a way where there is no way. He reclaims, redeems, restores, and rebuilds. Yes, this community is the heart of God. There’s just one problem: I cannot build this on my own. It will take a community.

R&R&R - Recover, Rebuild, and Reclaim From Addiction

Want to know how this community works? We start from the ground up. Recover. Rebuild. Reclaim.

Our program is built on Jesus, the One true Healer and Savior of lives.

Communities are designed with intentionality. This includes: Drug/ alcohol free property, home, and business. Accountability systems. Family environment. Personalized programs to facilitate physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional restoration. Life skills (Ex: time & money management, career training, healthcare, parenting, relationships, household care, etc). Community citizenship. Volunteer. Mentorship circle.

This design is implemented through:

● Recovery homes:

Where detoxed residents can gather their broken pieces, heal their wounds and rebuild a new foundation. Personalized Christ-based programs help reclaim their lives and their families. This is the foundation of recovery.

● Extended Living homes:

Where residents who need it can continue to live in a structured community. Composed of affordable living with small cabins, tiny homes and/ or RVs.

● Alabaster Daycare:

Childcare is a major obstacle. With its own daycare, residents bypass the average 9 month waiting list. This not only makes it possible for parents to work, but for qualifying individuals, it is an employment opportunity. Even more, it is an income producing sub-business to help fund the program.

● Professional Re-development

Other purposeful businesses within Alabaster are designed to (1) provide employment opportunities (2) skills/ career training (3) program funding (4) therapeutic value (5) community engagement. These ideas are contingent on property possibilities and buildings/ resources available. Some of these possibilities include: Firework stands, laundromats, equine/ animal therapy centers, mechanic shops, and more.

Donate to Nonprofit Alabaster Community

Alabaster needs location- land, homes, all of it. The big plan is for there to be these little communities all over the US. Addiction is an epidemic enslaving and killing multitudes of people everywhere. Often people need to get away from their toxic environments and go someplace new to start over and heal. With a network of communities, we can send people to other locations as needed. We need recovery homes for men and women. We need tiny homes/ cabins/ RVs. We need land to hold all of these structures. We need vehicles to help transport residents and furnishings for the homes. We need offices for our staff and funding to pay them.

I am spread thin. My time. My heart. My resources. I am using everything I have to love and serve my God and people. I am a wife. I am a mother to 5 forever kids and a foster mom to more. I homeschool my special needs son. And I am founder and executive director of Alabaster Community trying to learn how to run a nonprofit and help addicts into recovery as I go. It takes all of me. Every single bit. Every day. And the people I am called to love are worth it. This is good, though. People are worth it.

I constantly have people eager to help and be helped. There is no shortage of broken lives and we cannot work fast enough to get it together. But we need resources.

Sometimes I cry when I am alone. There is not enough of me or resources to bring this vision into reality; to love and help even those right before me to the best I know I can; to give them what they need. But God can. We can as a community. And I know there are people out there with the same heart, same drive, even the same vision. I know because He has sent them to me, connected us and crossed our paths. I know because I have the very people, the missing pieces where I am lacking in knowledge and experience, and we work together doing each our own part. They have brought their bricks and their skills and are standing on the wall building, too. They are stretched beyond thin with their work, their lives and this ministry. Yet, if everyone brings their brick, we can recover, rebuild, and reclaim together.

What bricks do you have to help?