Austin,Juli & Ozya's TINYHOME
Dear friends, family and community.
Our family (Austin, Juli and Ozya) evacuated our temporary home in Sonoma in the middle of the night, on the monday the fires began. We thought that night, that it was just a fire on our mountain, and seeing fire crews on the way down, we thought we would be able to come back the next day and everything would be fine. The news that we woke up to, made us realize that this was nowhere near the truth. Since that night we have been evacuating further and further from Sonoma to clean air, for our 9 month old son. After the longest two weeks of our lives we found out that all of the houses on our property were safe. The land still with fires, but our homes still safe. We were full of relief and could breath again. The next day, we found out that one cabin had burnt, and it was the one we were days away from moving into and would call our home for our forseeable future. This being something we have been longing for the last 2 very difficult years. After a day of grieving for this loss, we started to be okay and hopeful of what could still emerge on the land. It was that day we received a call from the land owner, telling us that due to the cabin burning "there is nothing they can offer us," and that we need to come and get all of our things from where we were staying and leave. We were in utter shock, and experiencing yet another loop of this emotional rollercoaster.
Since that day last week we have been bouncing around to friends and family's trying to figure out what we do next, and trying to keep it together. We haven't been completely successful in keeping it together, but we have come up with a plan for what comes next.
We feel a little nervous about going this step of reaching out and asking for your help. But we trust that this life is a web of interdependence. We fully commit to serving this culture of connection ourselves as individuals and as a family. Right now we are facing a point in life at which we need to ask for SUPPORT from the wider circles.
-OUR STORY
We have been through many transitions and moves in the last two years, seeking to create a way of living that is life-giving and sustainable. After a disappointing experience living in an intentional community in Hawaii we sought nothing more but authentic deep connections, community and stability, especially with our 9 months old sonshine Ozya. We came back to Sonoma to find all of this. Soon after we arrived we are again without a home after the terrible FIRES in Sonoma and Napa County. (we do have our belongings, we don't have a home)
-NEXT SEPS: Our bus
We notice that living in these times requires a lot of adaption to ever changing circumstances. Especially as a young family with little financial resources, we have experienced land ownership to be a limiting factor in having a stable home. We have been bouncing around properties a lot because we can't afford land ourselves. Our plan now is to dance with flexibility by building a MOBILE FAMILY HOME in a school bus. Our LIFE RESILIENCY BUS that we are asking your support to build.
-THE PLAN
As soon as we have the resources together we will buy an old school bus (around $6500). We are planning on converting it into a home within 1-2 months as we need a home asap. We will be using as much reclaimed materials as possible and build 100% eco-friendly. The $3500 left of our budget will go towards materials that we need to buy, interior (such as wood stove) and appliances.
Once we reach an end point in the campaign we will put the money on a separate project account.
-THE GREATER VISION
We believe that the fires can be an initiation to rise as a community in Sonoma. To build a stronger community. A community that doesn't exclude young people, families and farmers because of a lack of financial resources. With our bus we want to make it possible for us to stay in Sonoma where we love to be. We are committed to be strongly involved in making this change in Sonoma happen.
WE APPRECIATE ANY SUPPORT WITH OUR PROJECT ON EVERY LEVEL. THANK YOU TO THE SKY AND BACK FOR CONSIDERING TO SUPPORT US. We are receiving very mindfully, with the intention to multiply the value of every donation in our wider community. In hope to be able to give back. Thank you for standing with us in these challenging times. We just can't do it without a VILLAGE. Thank you.
*every donor will receive a weekly video process and progress update
