Our GoFundMe Goal: $1600

 We are live on GoFundMe! 

As a volunteer-based organization with no paid employees, our board members give of their time, talents, and treasure freely. But we could use some help fundraising for the start-up costs of our community education and enrichment organization, including the application fee for getting 501(c)(3) status. Did you know it costs $400 just to apply? 

Why do we need 501(c)(3) status?

We are all from small towns, and we absolutely love it! There's rich history here, and neighborliness, and self-sufficiency that's admirable. There are also some things we do without. Toquerville, for instance, doesn't even have a gas station, let alone a community center. 

This means we have the opportunity to help BUILD our community in ways that respect its roots and its future as a bedroom community. While city planning officials focus more on recreation and sports, there is room in our community for a building and facilities that focus more on the arts, education in the classics, and the rural industry of livestock, gardening, and root-cellaring that carved these towns into an oasis in the desert. 

We could fill this niche in our community. We have a vision of a beautiful building with an acre or two of land for raising livestock, an orchard, and several gardens, all maintained by volunteers from families in our community. That's an educational experience we'd all love for our children, whether or not we raise animals and vegetables ourselves. And while the proposed new community center the city plans is scanty on the classroom space and big on pickle-ball courts, our dream building would be a space where Hometown Heroes events, like the one we enjoyed last Saturday, take place on a regular basis! It would be a place dedicated not merely to recreation, which we all enjoy in our own backyards already, but to the learning, growth, and unity of the whole community. 

It's a BIG dream! And we'll need to be able to apply for grants from charitable foundations in order to achieve it. 

501(c)(3) status also enables donors to receive the charitable tax deduction for any money they contribute to our vision, so you can feel comfortable in the future giving more to the cause. 

LEMI Training

Our mentors for the family school want to be able to provide a couple of the amazing Scholar Projects created by the Leadership Education Mentoring Institute. 

The two trainings Katrina Lantz and Shayna Gorton will be attending this summer are Key of Liberty and The Georgics Project, respectively. This will certify them to mentor groups of youth or adults who are interested in ...

Key of Liberty

• reading biographies of the founders of the American Revolution
• studying and understanding the principles of the Constitution
• memorizing the Declaration of Independence

The Georgics Project

• learning to Garden
• learning about Principles of Providence, Self Validation, Mission, Real-Estate Ownership, Community Stewardship, Entrepreneurship and more...

The Garden

Last but not least, our community/school garden needs some serious love!




We have a beautiful plan for this space, with planting ideas from some of our own Zion Gateway Commonwealth children. We need money for lumber to build the boxes, soil, and seedlings. 


Let's do this! With your help, we can!