<div>My name is Thomas Allen Garvin V (aka Tommy Allgood), and for the past few years I’ve been walking a pathway of Liberatory Leadership and Sacred Community Building that has asked and invited more of me than I ever expected—emotionally, financially, and spiritually. It has been an incredible path, and in so many ways I am who I am today because of it. Recently I’ve been thinking more about sustainability, and important voices in my life have nudged me toward being more vocal about the support I personally need. I’m sharing this now because I’ve reached a point where I can’t carry it alone. And I don’t believe I’m supposed to—because our collective and individual formation is community work.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Over the last decade, I’ve poured myself into supporting others—through nursing, trauma-informed facilitation, queer spiritual leadership, racial healing work, worship and music ministry, restorative circles, and consulting with organizations trying to become more human-centered. The work is meaningful and necessary. It’s also unpredictable. There are months the income flows, and months it doesn’t. There have been times I’ve held space for entire communities while quietly managing the stress of meeting living expenses. My income is meaningful but unstable at times because trauma-informed facilitation, spiritual care, and community healing are largely contract-based and inconsistent.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Don’t read that as a blame or indictment on communities struggling and loving together—it’s simply the truth of my becoming in this work, in this season. I am learning that I can ask for needs to be met without fearing rejection at my core. As part of that truth, I have to let go of the desire to “do it all myself”—because this is what Spirit is asking me to release. I’ve carried the weight of being strong, “self-reliant,” and emotionally composed for a long time. But this path—this calling into deeper learning, more structured ministry (service), healing, and leadership—was never meant to be walked alone or in silence.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I was accepted into and began studies at McCormick Theological Seminary, and I’m saying yes to stepping more deeply into the work that my soul must have—work that has been forming in me long before I had the language for it. My work—whether in circle facilitation, healing spaces, spiritual leadership, or community care—is about creating places where people who’ve been harmed, displaced, or spiritually exiled can find belonging, voice, and restoration. Seminary isn’t a divergence from that path; it’s the deepening of it. It’s where the work I already do meets structure, eldership, ancestral lineage, and formation.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>But this journey comes with a financial reality I haven’t been able to meet alone.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>There is also an institutional layer to this journey. Part of my seminary pathway is intended to be supported in partnership with Watershed, my primary home of spiritual practice and formation, and I’m grateful for the conversations unfolding there. We are still discerning what that partnership will look like in practice, and the details are not finalized yet. As those pieces come together, there remain immediate costs that I am shouldering on my own. Naming that honestly feels important. This GoFundMe isn’t in place of institutional support—it is what helps me bridge the gap, steward my portion, and give space and time while Watershed and I clarify how we will walk this formation journey together.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>What I’m doing in seminary isn’t just about earning a degree. It’s about building the capacity to serve my community with depth. It’s about becoming the kind of spiritual leader I didn’t have growing up—Black, queer, trauma-informed, embodied, rooted, and unafraid of the truth. It’s about training to hold spaces where people can heal without judgment, reclaim their sacred worth, and find the Divine peace that covers all, outside the structures that once harmed them.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This is work my heart and body must have – And I need help crossing this threshold.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Your support will go directly toward tuition, fees, books, and the practical costs of completing this next stage of formation. Anything you give—whether large or small—helps me steady the ground beneath me so I can keep saying yes to the work I’ve been entrusted with.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>If you’ve been touched by my leadership, my music, my facilitation, my care, or the ways I’ve shown up for community—this is one of the clearest moments where your support can carry me forward.
</div>
<div>I’m committed to doing this work with integrity, transparency, and deep service. I’m committed to continue refining myself  in the service and healing our world needs—one who knows what it means to rise from harm, to build resilient communities, and to lead from compassion, courage, and truth.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>If all goes well- The Goal is 10,000 and we are gonna <strong>small is all </strong>our way there. (Unless you got it like that otherwise). To register for the next set of classes I need to clear the current due amount about $4500. If I have to update the amount I'll keep you posted.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thank you for believing in me.
</div>
<div>Thank you for helping make this possible.
</div>
<div>Thank you for holding me as I step into the next chapter of my calling.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>With care, gratitude, and hope,
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Tommy
</div>

Danielle Carroll

Anonymous

Charis Mitromaras

Nikki Pounds

Kelly McGowan

Jonathan Winn

Jeffrey Royal

Austin Smith

Nancy Sorensen

Kina Reed

Pamela Watson

Kathi Norman

Elizabeth Watson

Timothy Nicodemus

Kelsey Benton

Katie Robinson

Kimberly Marsh

Melissa Gremore

Jessica Vibberts

Tommy's Sacred Memory Seminary Journey

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Tommy's Sacred Memory Seminary Journey

Still $7,959 to go. Help us build momentum.