Lives changed, families steadied, communities renewed.
Behind every number is a name — a student, a family, a pastor, a survivor. Here are a few of theirs.
Stories in their own words.
"Faith Lives didn't just pay my tuition. They believed in me before I believed in myself."
Amara was raised by her grandmother in a Miami neighborhood where fewer than one in five students finish college. She earned admission to nursing school, but the numbers didn't work. A Faith Lives scholarship — and a mentor who checked in every month for four years — closed the gap.
She graduated last spring and now works in pediatric care at a Miami hospital. Every Saturday, she volunteers with the youth ministry at her home church.
"I know exactly what my life would have looked like without Faith Lives. So now my job is to be for someone else what they were for me."
"The month you took over groceries was the month we finally slept."
When Maria and Carlos Reyes took in two siblings on a Tuesday afternoon, they had 24 hours' notice. By the following Monday, they were exhausted, running out of savings, and wondering if they'd made a mistake.
Faith Lives connected them with a monthly grocery stipend, a welcome kit for the kids, and a mentor for the older sibling — a shy 12-year-old who now plays on his middle school basketball team.
"The stipend was enormous, but what we tell everyone about is the phone call. Someone from Faith Lives called every two weeks just to see how we were doing. That's what real help looks like."
"For the first time in years, I'm not raising money — I'm doing ministry."
Elijah pastors a small church in Liberty City. For a decade he served two roles: pastor and fundraiser. When Faith Lives came alongside his congregation with multi-year operational support, everything changed.
His church has since launched a Saturday tutoring program, hired a part-time youth pastor, and taken in three foster families from the neighborhood.
"They didn't tell us what to do. They just made it possible for us to do what we already knew needed doing."
More voices from the field.
My mentor never once made me feel small. Even when I failed a class, she said 'now what did we learn?' — not 'I told you so.'
I aged out of foster care with a duffel bag. Faith Lives got me an apartment deposit, a laptop, and a mentor who is still in my life three years later.
The recovery program they funded gave my daughter her life back. I didn't know an organization like this existed.
Mentoring my mentee has become the most meaningful hour of my week. It changed me at least as much as it changed him.
Our missionary team was six months from shutting down. A Faith Lives grant kept us in the field, and the ministry has since doubled.
I'm a first-generation college graduate because of this organization. I have no other way to say it.
Be part of the next story.
Every gift becomes a scholarship, a grocery stipend, a mentor pairing, a foster family kit, a church that stays open another year.