As the community becomes successful in producing food and necessities, and in promoting tours, seminars, retreats, cottage industries and so forth, excess food and other goods will be available for  guests and visitors.  When mature, a community is also expected to have some excess food above what is needed for personal sustenance. Some extra land should also be allocated in the beginning for profit farming for any individuals who desire to purchase such extra land for this purpose.

Every community should be prepared if a crisis occurs in the cities, whether it be due to war, shortages of food, water, or oil, terrorism, financial collapse, political upheaval or any other reason.  Such preparedness necessitates that the community does not attempt to maximize its population to the point where we can barely grow enough food for ourselves. This is another reason for not allowing multiple-story houses, as well as controlling population density by applying the village concept where each home has sufficient land.

Any tours, seminars and other events attended by the general public will immediately cease upon a catastrophic event in the cities.  We certainly hope this doesn’t happen, but modern society has created such a complex network of completely unsustainable systems that one of them is bound to fail at some point in time, and if this happens the others may quickly follow.

At such a time the community should re-direct efforts, facilities, and food to accommodate the Supporters desiring to relocate from the cities, and in protecting the community.  Supporters do not have homes in the community. The guest house, auditorium, and similar community buildings can all be used to house them when they need to relocate.

An established community will have the infrastructure, development, knowledge, and experience to accommodate them, feed them, welcome them, and engage them productively.

If such an event occurs, the two biggest problems will be sufficient food and sufficient defense.  The food requirements for the relocating supporters cannot be greater than the amount of excess produce being generated for public consumption through the restaurant, market, outside sales, and any other existing outlets. Therefore each community must limit the number of their Supporters, otherwise they cannot all be sustained in an emergency in the cities. 

Some communities may also decide not to have public tours and events, in order to keep their location and existence more private, for the sake of security and safety during such upheavals in society. However, those activities and products are generally an important revenue stream for the community. 

Supporters

Supporters are community members who do not actively live in the community and have not joined a specific household by living in or contributing financially toward a household.  A Supporter contributes financially for the general community development in exchange for shelter in a catastrophic emergency. He or she is not part of a village and not part of a household in a village.

A particular village household may have members who do not reside there (non-resident members), but they should be contributing in some capacity toward the household. An example would be a husband who lives in the city to pay off a mortgage while his wife and family live in the community and develop their land. Another example would be someone who is providing a house for others to live in and develop the associated acre but is personally still living in the city although counted as a member of that household. All of these persons are NOT Supporters, they are members of particular households, even if they do not live full-time in the community.

A Supporter may be someone who does not have funds to contribute toward land and home, or may have come after a community was developed and there are no village lots available for a household. Supporters are people who are willing to give ongoing regular contributions in exchange for a place to reside in time of catastrophe in the city.

Financial contributions from Supporters will facilitate the development of the community buildings such as restaurants, auditoriums, guest houses and so forth.  Anyone can give contributions without expectation of return, but they are not Supporters unless a living facility is arranged for them in one of the community buildings during a time of catastrophe. Even if the community members provide the labor to construct these buildings, funds are still needed to cover the cost of materials.

The community will assign a required minimum monthly contribution for Supporters. (Children age 15 and up are treated as an adult for food and space allocation purposes.) This will guarantee them a place in the community in time of catastrophic emergency in the city. If household lots in a village become available, they can also purchase one and build a home because they have already been accepted as members of the community. The community must have all arrangements necessary to accommodate Supporters within a reasonable amount of time after offering such membership.

Friends and Family List

Household Members must put friends and relatives on a “Friends and Family List” for their  village if they want to reserve a place for them during a time of catastrophic emergency.  The household location for each person’s expected future residence must be specified. The entire village must agree on the combined list for all eight households, as the village must have sufficient land capacity in total.

The Friends and Family list is a very critical part of the community planning.  It accomplishes many things, as will be seen below. It encourages non-resident friends and family to actively support the success of the community.

Catastrophic Emergency in the Cities

In a time of catastrophic emergency in the cities, anyone who is not on the Supporter list or the Friends and Family lists will not be allowed shelter in the community, otherwise the entire community is at risk due to food shortages.  Of course everyone will want to allow many friends or family members to come, but this cannot be allowed without such prior agreements by the whole community.

There may be many people seeking shelter, and community members must be fully prepared for this. Such decisions are difficult but absolutely necessary, and the community's first priority is always to protect the community residents, even when that means turning people away and defending the community. 

A Supporter’s personal emergency does not qualify as a Catastrophic Emergency.  If a Supporter has a personal emergency in the absence of a major catastrophic event in general society or in the city where the Supporter resides, he or she cannot move to the community based on that event. In the absence of a catastrophic emergency, visitors and guests will still be coming to the community and occupying the guest house and other buildings, and the Supporters designated emergency shelter may not even be available.

Any Supporter can stop contributing at any time, but no contributions are refundable, and only those currently supporting financially have the right to relocate to the community in a catastrophic emergency.

Alternatively, the community can offer such facilities to Supporters for a one-time larger contribution.

Through every step of the community’s development a complete plan must be in place for catastrophic emergency relocation of all persons accepted as Supporters and Friends and Family according to the exact lists at that time.  

Sponsors

A Sponsor is a non-member non-resident who contributes money to help support a resident member or household.  He or she may have a good friend or family member in the community, and is willing to provide some financial support in order to help that resident member get established.

Usually this will take the form of contributing funds for construction of the member’s home or the initial purchase of land. Once a lot has been purchased and a home built, and some crop production is underway, there will not be as much need for finances from outside the community. Sponsors contribute personally to community members, whereas Supporters contribute to the development of community buildings. A sponsor may not necessarily be on a Friends and Family list, but generally will be. 

A community member can solicit multiple sponsors from among his or her relatives or friends outside the community.   If someone has few funds for home construction, he or she can solicit for contributions among friends or family members outside the community. Anyone who thus contributes is a Sponsor for that individual community member. The community member may reciprocate with the sponsor in any appropriate way, such as giving gifts in return, offering education, spiritual advice, newsletters regarding progress on the land, and so forth. 

Sponsors have no guaranteed access to the community in time of catastrophic emergency unless they are also on the approved Friends and Family list for that household and village. 

Full Community

A “full community” means that every available village site has 8 owned home sites, with none for sale.  This does not mean more people cannot be accommodated. It only means that no one can buy land for a household and that no more homes can be built, unless more land is purchased.

Each home can support a maximum of six adult residents, due to the carrying capacity of the associated acre of land, part of which is allocated for crops for clothing or excess crops for barter for other needs. Therefore a village simply cannot have more than 48 adults. (Children under age 15 count as 1/2 adult for food and land allocation purposes.) These 48 people do not have to be exactly allocated in 6 people per home. Some homes might have 8 adults. However, one home in a village can have 8 people only if another home in the same village has only 4, which must have been clearly communicated and agreed upon in writing by all the members of a village. 

Similarly, there must also be some type of agreements for sufficient food, since each household's acreage cannot support more than 6 adults. Such exceptions should only be made with great caution, in full agreement.

If a village has less than 48 people, and would like more, they can advertise for more residents. This is not necessarily recommended, since it is better to have a safety margin for food needs, and 48 adults means that no Friends or Family can be accommodated in a time of catastrophic emergency.  Anyone can also petition the members of a particular village to become a member, and this will usually happen with the new member's application to the community. 

This does not mean that a single person with a home (for example) is required to have anyone else in their home. It only means that they must produce on their one acre of land. Everyone works cooperatively in each village. If all the other households in the village originally agreed to this when the single person desired to join that village, then that single person cannot be required to have another person live with them in the future. But that person should also cooperate with the other village members and should consider this if all the other village members request it. The land must somehow be fully utilized as the community develops over time. Residents of other village households can also work that land if the sole household resident agrees, otherwise he or she should try to use it productively to it's full capacity, as best as possible. All types of agreements can be made - and remember, anything can be bartered.

Anyone can become a member of a community by the agreement of a particular household and village even if he or she is not living there. Each person must apply to become a member of the community itself and follow the community's application process and requirements. As described in previous paragraphs, non-resident members are allowed. With all the possible ways to be involved, the number of residents and the number of members will often be different.

The potential for a catastrophic emergency in the cities is not to be taken lightly. The community residents must be prepared.  The community's responsibility is to the Members whether they are residing in the community or not (which includes Supporters) and secondly to those persons on village Friends and Family lists. There is no allowance for anyone else without potentially jeopardizing community survival, and as soon as one exception is made many others will also want an exception. This may sound rather harsh, but we must make sure everyone is fully informed, fully prepared, and that planning is done properly. 

Below is a chart that shows some possible arrangements. The Alternative Financing Summary page also partly covers this subject.

Next - (Membership) Becoming a Member