We have 45 days until Groundbreaking. I have been looking forward to this day for more than a year. I have prayed, cried and laughed through those 437 days since I put the down payment on the land that we will till in 7 short weeks. Those who know me well know that this is the one thing that has kept me going when all else has failed. When I've felt like I couldn't take another step, like I had lost everything and everyone, the thought of what MontemAra will be has kept me focused. 

Many people didn't understand why I would take on land payments when I could barely make it, why I would try to put together a project for homeless when I was still homeless myself. But I knew I had to do it. Since the very moment I paid my first cent into this property, I knew exactly what the land was purposed for. It wasn't my choice. It just was. 

Up until now, the entire project has been paid for by myself and my passengers through tips and donations. On all of my Lyft and Uber rides, I keep my fares for my "paycheck" and put 100% of tips and donations to MontemAra. I have since July. In fact, one of my passengers recently sponsored our 501(c)3 application, which has since been approved. :) Three donations have come in from private parties who were not passengers. One was my hotel manager for the summer. He used to tell me every week as I paid rent that he wished he didn't have to charge me so much because he saw me struggling. To make amends, I believe, he made a small donation on our GoFundMe and issued a challenge for everyone who saw it to match his donation. If everyone had done that, we would be all the way to Groundbreaking. No one did. Not a single other person made a donation. 

It was then that I learned an important lesson in all of this... Hundreds of people every week tell me how wonderful MontemAra is and how much they would love to support it. I give out more than 100 business cards each and every week. And every single one of those people tell me that they will make a donation, be there with a shovel or tell all of their friends. But, when time comes for someone's time, money or energy to actually be on the line, crickets... 

This lesson has made me jaded and nervous recently. I'm trying not to be either of those things. But now, with such little time until "kickoff", I'm terrified. I'm scared that there won't be shovels. I'm worried that there won't be seeds, or buckets, or water, or tarps... all of the little things that we need to make it happen. I'm scared that there won't be anyone there with me to break ground. That I'll be there waiting and digging and crying and laughing and praying alone. 

I don't know what to do to make it happen. I know that I want it to happen, and that I will do whatever it is that I need to do to make it happen. But I don't know what IT is. I don't know how to make shovels and seeds and and buckets and people show up. 

I'm open to suggestions. I'm open to prayer. I'm open to whatever I need to be open to in order to make gardens and memorials and fences and trees and crops appear in the middle of the high desert in 45 days. 

Please, if you really do want to see this happen, if you believe that there needs to be a place of respite and rest for our houseless patriots and homeless veterans, if you believe in a way of life that is run off of the sun and the wind, is molded straight from the earth and encourages hard work and love for our country... help us make it happen. Right now. Seriously. 45 days. That's no time at all. I need you to commit to showing up. I need you to bring your friends. I need you to send donations if you have the ability to do so. (All of our financial records can be gladly shared if requested.) I need you to send e-gift cards for places we can buy the materials and supplies. I need you to tell your people. Do you have a hog to spare? I need that too. Bring your tents. Bring your water. Bring your energy. Bring whatever you can bring to make 15 acres of sage-brushy desert begin its journey to patriot-paradise. 

Questions? Please feel free to text or email me anytime. Please understand, though, that I am running a business, working full time, raising teenagers, maintaining a household, hosting a community and building a village. I promise to respond to each and every message, but I can not promise to to respond immediately. 

If you're still here, thank you sincerely for staying with me. 
I promise that each and every moment and every last cent you put into this with me will be worth it.

Crystina Page
Founder & CEO

(719) 470-0740
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