Help Create Emmaus Village of Marthasville!

Dear Communities Near and Far,

Help build community at Emmaus Village of Marthasville! Emmaus Village of Marthasville is a Nonprofit organization and Community Land Trust in the making. We are a fellowship of people and small, private businesses who are creating positive change by coming together to create an alternative, decentralized, and communally supportive way of living that exists in parallel to current social constructs. We are growing a village and need your help to do it! Please consider donating or, better yet, joining us if you, too, are searching for a more efficient, regenerative, and enjoyable way to live.

In December of 2023, Emmaus Village of Marthasville, (unaffiliated with its predecessor, Emmaus Homes), purchased the historic Emmaus campus located at 11900 Emmaus Drive in Marthasville, MO. The property is deeply entrenched in local history, having been founded and built, by hand and heart, by German Evangelical immigrants beginning in the year 1850. Originally comprised of over 500 acres, today the campus consists of just 50 acres; 8 original, historic limestone buildings; a maintenance building; 2 newer commercial buildings, and two cemeteries dating back to 1850 and 1900.

Vacant since 2015, left unattended and subject to extreme vandalism, the Emmaus campus has been classified by the Missouri Historical Preservation Society as being one of America’s top, “Places in Peril”. Emmaus Village of Marthasville is wholeheartedly committed to and invested in the restoration of the land and buildings, for the mutual, collective benefit of her inhabitants, land, community, and beyond. Emmaus Village of Marthasville and its Community Land Trust plan to bring all of the original land and her resources back to life, to enliven the lives of everyone with and around her.

Emmaus Village of Marthasville is in the developmental planning stages and is rapidly progressing in scope. A new kind of community has been envisioned, where we will return to a Kincentric way of living and contribute to the growth and sustainment of the whole. Emmaus Village will be a community where homeowners and homesteaders will share in the equity of the land and its resources while participating in a communally supportive framework where all of the fundamental needs of life will be met and exceeded— abundantly and in perpetuity.

The land, along with her resources and buildings, will be utilized responsibly and efficiently to build this communal framework within Emmaus Village of Marthasville. Through the framework and with the help of intracommunity partnerships with its autonomous, interdependent members, the following fundamental needs will be met and exceeded abundantly—

1. Housing Security— (Direct Community Lead Initiative)

A. Affordable land, homestead, and homeownership opportunities, with the option of community financing— available to all.

B. COBB home construction, with the option of community financing— available to all.

2. Financial Security— (Direct Community Lead Initiative)

A. Entrepreneurial development opportunities with the options of community financing and longterm support.

B. Intracommunity Social Capital Banking System to exchange time and alternative contributions for equity and/or services.

3. Food Security—

A. Large-scale, permaculture farm providing for intracommunity food supply, with a surplus distribution program to local and regional communities.

B. Year round Farmers and Artisans Market

C. Farm-to-Table Cafe.

D. Livestock.

4. Community Security—

A. Community Center— (Direct Community Led Initiative)— Indoor recreation, office share spaces, meeting rooms, WiFi cafe, showering facilities, fitness center, group rental spaces, small library.

B. Retreat Center— Private, public, business, and family group accommodations at affordable prices.

C. Nondenominational Chapel— (Direct Community Led Initiative)—

Available for private and public use— Services and ceremonies.

D. Events— large group event rental spaces, indoor and outdoor.

E. Recreation— (Direct Community Led Initiative)—

Large-scale outdoor recreational park including amphitheater, public/private group rental spaces, pavilions with grills, natural children’s playgrounds, walking/ hiking/ biking/ equestrian trails, fishing/ swimming/ agriculture lakes/ponds— Open to public for day use.

F. Art Cooperative— Fine arts, music, theatre arts, galleries, workshops, seminars, etc.

G. Historical Cooperative— (Community Lead Initiative)—

Property history museum and tours; Historical Society membership and National Historical Registration.

H. Cultural Cooperative— Indigenous and ethnic activities, celebration, and education.

5. Wellness Security—

A. Fern Galindo Family Center Cooperative—

A full-scope emotional wellness therapy center offering a wide array of therapeutic services for individuals and families, including but not limited to, counseling, therapies, (multi-modalities including art, music, play, and ecotherapies), workshops, group classes, seminars, advocacy, coaching, consulting, etc. All available outside of the traditional health insurance industry, although Medicaid and Medicare friendly— Sliding scale subscriptions based services.

“By removing excess profit from the equation, the cooperative will link provider and client in a mutually supportive environment, where caring for one another is the focus.”

B. Physical Wellness Cooperative—

Traditional and homeopathic healthcare services.

C. Spiritual Cooperative— Various spiritual therapies.

6. Transportation Security—

A. Intracommunity Commuter Carshare Cooperative—

Electric vehicles and public charging stations for rural<—>urban commutes.

B. Intracommunity shuttle services to/from Washington, MO.

C. Amtrak partnership— No or low cost rural<—>urban transit between Washington and STL.

7. Education and Life Care Security—

A. Regenerative Education Center—

Awakening our connection to and sense of wonder with the land through educational experiences.

1) Adolescent and adult learning opportunities for those interested in learning useful, regenerative trades and methodologies.

2) Youth Forest School— a nature-based alternative to traditional education.

B. Nature-based, holistic childcare center.

C. Eldercare center and support services.

D. Various life-stage support groups.

E. Maternal/infant care center and support services.

8. Utility Security— (Community Led Initiative)—

(Community Utility Independence)

A. 1mw Solar Farm

B. Community Water Wells

C. Starlink Satellite WiFi

D. Anaerobic Digestion System for organic solid waste management.

E. Aerobic Digestion Sewage Treatment System

F. Geothermal Network

G. Recycling Program

9. Environmental Security— (Community Led Initiative)—

A. Participation in Regional 5 Year Climate Action Plan

B. Land and utility regeneration

C. Rematriation

In order to get the village up and onto its feet while awaiting the receipt of planned grant funding, Emmaus Village of Marthasville is humbly raising capital to meet its immediate needs—

1. Septic system for Fern Galindo Family Support Center— $225,000.

2. Vandalism repairs to St. Paul and Bethany Buildings—

$80,000.

3. HVAC repairs to St. Paul and Bethany Buildings—

$60,000.

4. Operational Funds—

$250,000.

As we all know, grand ideas and grand projects require the loyalty, dedication, and commitments of grand communities. Therefore, we invite everyone and anyone to participate in our endeavor by contributing to our end in mind—

Preserving the Past.

Integrating the Present.

Cultivating the Future.

Sustaining the Whole.

Please follow our Facebook page, Emmaus Village of Marthasville, for ongoing news, photos/videos of our journey, updates, developments, and plans.

Emmaus Village of Marthasville is so grateful and feels absolutely privileged to steward the land and her resources, while simultanesouly sheparding a transformative and meaningful journey for its intracommunity members and surrounding communities/region. We thank all of our community members, partners, friends, and family for their continued, generous support.

Together, starting right here in Marthasville, MO, we ARE the change that is so desperately needed in today’s world.

Warmly and In Communal Care,

Mandy Hoskins

*Currently In Fiscal Sponsorship with the Economic Justice Fund STL, in cooperation with Possibility Labs, STL.

*To date, we are in cooperative partnerships with the following organizations:

—East-West Gateway Council of Governments

—EPA

—Stay tuned for additional partnership updates