GAP Ministries
Gap Ministries is a community resource serving Tucsonans in need.
About GAP Ministries
GAP Ministries is a Tucson community resource serving people in need across Tucson and Southern Arizona. Its work centers on what the ministry describes as bringing help to children, healing to families, and hope to the community. Through food distribution, foster care services, family restoration, job training, and other programs, GAP Ministries works to address poverty and abuse while supporting children, families, and adults.
The ministry provides several forms of direct assistance. Its services include free food, low-cost food, NSLP meals, job training, foster care licensing, and foster and adoption resources. Its program offerings include a kitchen, catering, the Community Warehouse, the 05 Market and 12 Market, foster care, SPLASH for foster children, Family Restoration, and workforce development. The website also identifies Career Plus as a program. Together, these offerings connect practical resources with support for children and families, while creating opportunities for people to receive training in culinary, warehouse, retail, and soft skills.
GAP Ministries also gives Tucsonans and other community members ways to participate in its work. Support can include volunteering, donating, becoming a church partner, becoming a foster parent, contributing through wish lists, or using planned and smart giving options. The ministry invites people to shop at or donate to Treasures and More, hire GAP Kitchen, and consider tax credit giving. These avenues reflect GAP's approach to community involvement, with people able to contribute time, goods, financial support, professional opportunities, or a foster home.
The story of GAP Ministries began with Greg and Pam Ayers, who left executive careers in Utah and moved to Tucson believing they were coming to plant a church. According to the ministry, they came to understand that they had a different calling. With a spare bedroom, extra garage space, and a desire to serve orphans and widows, they became the first group home, caring for as many as eight children from deeply traumatic backgrounds in their own home. Greg and his son, Jason, drove around town in a blue pickup truck responding to requests for help posted on tear-off flyers in community centers. The ministry describes GAP's growth as beginning with that family's willingness to use what they had to help others.
GAP Ministries reports that its work reached thousands across Southern Arizona. Its 2025 community impact figures include 179 children cared for, 17 adoptions, 43 licensed foster families, and 2,283 parenting time sessions. The ministry also reports 53 support service recipients, 36 graduates in culinary, warehouse, retail, and soft skills training, and 91,102 meals provided for children, seniors, and adults. Its food and goods work included $8.7 million in food and products distributed, 96,000 shoppers, and 50 weekly nonprofit partners.
People seeking assistance can begin by exploring GAP Ministries' "How We Help" options, including food, meals, job training, foster care licensing, and foster and adoption resources. Those interested in supporting the ministry can review volunteer, donation, church partnership, foster parent, shopping, and employment opportunities. GAP Ministries maintains Tucson locations for its main office, Community Warehouse and 05 Market, and Treasures and More and 12 Market, giving visitors several ways to connect with its programs and community work.