Empowering Photo Studio & Micro Event Venue

River Evergreen is organizing this fundraiser.

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Our community has a severe need for safe and empowering spaces right now. So we’re stepping up, to take part in supporting our community in a few of the many ways we need to be supported. We have started plans to transform our home and property into a sanctuary for queer, BIPOC, disabled, and marginalized communities. Our vision includes crafting an expansive acre studio/venue space and wildlife sanctuary. Discover more about the transformative services our business will provide to our guests on our website

A small business with big dreams to become a non-profit, our goal is to offer our community a secure space to gather and support each other; through artistic identity exploration, growing and cultivating food, sharing in the warmth of each other's company, and enjoying the freedom to exist in a place that wants to see you thrive and live a life in alignment with yourself.

This campaign is a call to action for all of those who want to be the change we want to see in the world, and we're asking for your help in bringing in this change at a quicker pace than we could on our own. We want to join the efforts to provide a safe, understanding environment to host community events, small weddings, community education, and so much more, and your funds can help us get there faster than our independent efforts have gotten us thus far.

Let's be honest, the struggles of moving a business to a new state are abundant, but so is our strength when we get together. We survived 2023 on our savings account and, one week before the end of the year, used up our funds to pay bills to keep the lights on. We recognize that if this dream is going to come to fruition and to be able to move forward with our goals - we're going to need your help.

So here we go.

This is what we want to accomplish in the coming year with the contributions of this campaign:

Main Building Renovation ($58,000): the main home is the hub for everything we want to bring to the community. And will serve as the base for a food kitchen.

Window refinishing- when we first bought the property, some of the windows were not properly installed. We want to refinish the windows currently here and add more to bring in better natural light and reduce our carbon footprint.
Larger Bathroom- a larger bathroom will accommodate more people and people of varying needs and abilities.
Foundation Stabilization- the house we purchased has had multiple add-ons built to expand the space, but with a greater volume of people, we would like to strengthen and stabilize the foundation to support that.

Food Forest/Native Plant Restoration ($25,000): the impact we want to have on our community means making more than a seasonal garden. We want to create a natural food forest across the property and restore its natural biodiversity to give the land back to the earth and the people. This means sharing the excess of what we grow with local community members and food banks.

Studio Renovation ($35,000): Finishing the transformation of our garage to a creative studio space will make it so that the community can come and participate in empowering artistic expression and allow a year-round space for hosting events of all kinds.

Floor finishing- it currently has a strong concrete base, but it will need proper flooring to insulate it.
Installing Utilities- the goal is to run electricity through the studio
Walls & Ceiling- the project will cover the last of the insulation, paneling, and ceiling work to fully bring this space together

Greenhouse ($50,000): Adding a greenhouse to the property will allow us to grow fresh fruit and vegetables into the snowy winter months and provide a year-round/all-weather space for activities and relaxation for visitors.

Privacy Fencing ($20,000): the existing fencing is not fully enclosed, so a better fence allows for visual privacy and peace of mind for everyone wanting to express themselves without concern.

Covered Outdoor spaces ($40,000): having a covered outdoor space will allow us to gather together outside in the nature we want to surround ourselves with and under the stars we sometimes forget to appreciate

Solar Installation/Rainwater Collection ($30,000): We want to be as sustainable as possible and utilize what we can to bring more to the community

Solar power - Solar will make providing electricity to the house and studio spaces much more affordable, which will allow us to put the cost to greater use for other needs.
Rain Catchment System - having reserves of natural rainwater for the food forest is the easiest way to keep the plants hydrated and fruitful.

Check out this sneak preview of our space and how your investments can help us grow.

We want to also provide services that empower people who couldn't normally afford it, so we have big dreams of branching off a non-profit to remove the paywall of our services for those who can't afford to navigate around it. Professional services like photography are considered a luxury... but memories of our happiest moments, mementos of our young selves' growth, and moments that remind us of our strength, beauty, and radiance; are considered essential to us and we believe everyone should have access to Fine Art - not just those with money.

This project is the culmination of three queer artist's deep desire to support our community, locally and around the world. We hope that you, our community, will support us in our project too. Change is happening fast within our society, and we want to be instrumental in building a better world; but that means spaces like the one we’re building here, in Port Orchard, feel all the more crucial. If you want to support us in establishing a community sanctuary, please share our campaign to help us transform our property into a sanctuary/safe space for our queer, BIPOC, disabled, and marginalized people.