Rather than changing the information that is on this page regarding the Fire Well Collective, I have chosen the leave the previous information (below) as a way to reflect on what we have done before, and in hopes that we will again achieve this balance. In the future, as the project rebuilds itself, I hope to learn from my previous mistakes and make the dream a successful reality. July 2014
Fire Well Community
We are a collective of intentional family, working together to support ourselves, our households, and our community. Our goal is to build community by living as a family, promoting balanced mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. Ultimately, we are working together to reduce the overall financial cost of living and improve quality of daily life. We strongly believe that our actions will strengthen our community by actively promoting recycle, re-use, and barter.
Our Community Positive projects include organizing fundraisers for folks with medical costs; providing small scale financial assistance for childrens’ educational supplies when necessary; providing free clothes and food to folks in need; collecting re-usable items that would otherwise be disposed of, clean and/or repair them as needed and distribute them to folks who need those items.
We recently coordinated a Free Closet for Holiday Shopping that helped several families in our area with Christmas gifts.
Our Community Positive projects include organizing fundraisers for folks with medical costs; providing small scale financial assistance for childrens’ educational supplies when necessary; providing free clothes and food to folks in need; collecting re-usable items that would otherwise be disposed of, clean and/or repair them as needed and distribute them to folks who need those items.
We recently coordinated a Free Closet for Holiday Shopping that helped several families in our area with Christmas gifts.
Letter from the founder
As many children do, I grew up bouncing in between my mother's and my father's worlds. This provided me with an opportunity to actively participate in two different ways of living. The perspective this experience provided inspired me in many ways throughout the last 20 years. My fathers world taught me the importance of hard work and focused determination. My mothers world taught me the
importance of community and the strength of family. As an artist, I recognize that we all have inside us teachers & students, healers & soldiers, creators & destroyers. Knowledge is power. When we acknowledge our power we must also embrace our responsibility. As a passionate artist, I see the world through my own looking glass and envision a community in which we all take care of each other. In my experience, living with other artists helps to nourish the muse. As a spiritual person, I embrace my existence as pivotal and equally insignificant. My beliefs strongly affect my personal choices and I openly embrace diversity. I have long envisioned a community of people who operated as a family, taking care of each other by openly sharing skills and projects the way villages have in the past. While the romantic ideal may not meet the speed of our current society, The Fire Well Community is challenging the notion by developing a modern network of collective living. And yes, this is my baby...growing and developing. Like a child discovering the world for the first time, we are in the beginning stages and exploding with new ideas. The goal of the Fire Well Collective is to develop a network of households throughout the greater metro area. Each of the participating houses offer “room & board” for a combination of money and barter. Our policy of incorporating the barter of skills sharing throughout the collective of households lowers overall costs of living and encourages community support and involvement. In short we are creating an interdependant community of people, a family.
Welcome to The Fire Well Collective.
I hope you enjoy your stay.
~Charles
importance of community and the strength of family. As an artist, I recognize that we all have inside us teachers & students, healers & soldiers, creators & destroyers. Knowledge is power. When we acknowledge our power we must also embrace our responsibility. As a passionate artist, I see the world through my own looking glass and envision a community in which we all take care of each other. In my experience, living with other artists helps to nourish the muse. As a spiritual person, I embrace my existence as pivotal and equally insignificant. My beliefs strongly affect my personal choices and I openly embrace diversity. I have long envisioned a community of people who operated as a family, taking care of each other by openly sharing skills and projects the way villages have in the past. While the romantic ideal may not meet the speed of our current society, The Fire Well Community is challenging the notion by developing a modern network of collective living. And yes, this is my baby...growing and developing. Like a child discovering the world for the first time, we are in the beginning stages and exploding with new ideas. The goal of the Fire Well Collective is to develop a network of households throughout the greater metro area. Each of the participating houses offer “room & board” for a combination of money and barter. Our policy of incorporating the barter of skills sharing throughout the collective of households lowers overall costs of living and encourages community support and involvement. In short we are creating an interdependant community of people, a family.
Welcome to The Fire Well Collective.
I hope you enjoy your stay.
~Charles
What does it mean to be a member of the Fire Well Community?
Ultimately, our goal is to rebuild and strengthen our community, by living in a way that encourages interaction in a healthy and socially supportive manner. You can become a member either as an individual or as a community property "owner". Each individual is responsible for their own personal finances, and property "owners" are responsible for managing the finances of their own properties. However, within these parameters, we attempt to find a balance of service and self sufficiency. We refer to following the Fire Well Community model of alternative economy frequently. As a point of reference the monthly fee structure for tenants within Fire Well Collective Households:
$200 per adult
Plus $100 per room
Plus $50 per child
For example Persons with the privacy of their own room are responsible for $300.
A parent sharing a room with their child would be responsible for $350.
Two people sharing a room would together be responsible for $500.
*These costs include all utilities, maintenance, and standard consumable products (such as toilet paper and dishsoap)
Types of Members
Community Property Owner: A community property owner controls property in which space is offered to persons throughout the greater community following the Fire Well Collective model of alternative economy.
Offered properties can vary from from Residential Properties open public spaces.
Contractual agreements for alternative living follow The Fire Well Community model and are adapted by the Community Property Owner to meet the needs of the property of residence. Ultimately, the fee structure of the households, will be determined by the participating property owner.
As a Community Property Owner, you agree to follow the Fire Well Collective model of landlord/tenant contractual agreement.
The relationship between you as property owner and tenant (person renting the space from you) is clearly defined, by agreeing to accept full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly from the tenant, (as defined per contract). All other details are to be negotiated between property owner and tenant.
Residential Community Tenant
A residential community tenant lives in one of the participating collective households.
The fee structure of the households, will be determined by the participating property owner.
Private: Business Offering employment on a temporary or long term basis. As the business owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model and support barter by exchanging goods or services with participating members on a case-by-case basis. The business relationship you offer is contractually defined, by agreeing to provide full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly to the “employee” or member. All other details are to be negotiated between parties privately.
The Fire Well Collective is not responsible for the finances of the member's personal business and will not act as a creditor in regards to tracking down debtors.
Collective: Business As the business owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model and support barter exchange of goods or services with participating members openly as a regular means of exchange. You support the collective economy by hiring your business employees from within the collective membership whenever possible. The business relationship you offer is contractually defined, and may include full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly to the “employee”. All other details are to be negotiated between parties privately.
The Fire Well Collective is not responsible for the finances of the member's personal business and will not act as a creditor in regards to tracking down debtors.
Types of Properties
While The Fire Well Collective is not responsible for the tenant or property owner regarding fulfilling their contractual agreements, we encourage active collective participation, and open communication. If there is a problem that is not resolved within the group meetings of your own collective household, that you would like assistance with, we will do our best to assist. For example, we may be able to help find work hours for someone with a specialized skill. Or help find a more well suited placement for a community member that is not working out in a particular collective household.
We can guarantee that the more active a member you are, the richer the experience will be for you.
Private: Residential A room or rooms (as available) for rent in the home in which you reside. While the other members of your home may not necessarily be participating members of the Fire Well Community, as a Community Property Owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model of landlord/tenant contractual agreement. The relationship between you as property owner and tenant (person renting the room from you) is clearly defined, by agreeing to accept full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly from the tenant, (as defined per contract). All other details are to be negotiated between property owner and tenant.
Private: Resource Offering an indoor or outdoor space for rent, on residential property that you own, or otherwise reside, for purposes other than room & board living. The space offered may be a studio or workspace, storage shed, beautiful yard for weddings, space for shared gardens, or something else entirely. As the property owner, you know best what you have to offer the Fire Well Community.
Collective: Residential Offering multiple rooms (as available) for rent in a collective household, which you manage or own. All members of the household are participating collective community tenants. Rental fee structures must include details outlining: the inclusion of utilities, the contribution requirement for participating in shared healthy meals, and any additional amenities. Amenities may vary from property to property. Community property owners set the fee schedule for their properties as they deem necessary. The fee schedule is not changed without 30 days warning to the tenants and not more than once per calendar year. As a Community Property Owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model of landlord/tenant contractual agreement. The relationship between you as property owner and tenant (person renting the room from you) is clearly defined, offering and agreeing to accept a percentage of rent from the tenant in “cash”, while allowing them to fulfill the barter portion of their rent by donating their skills, products, or services (for a minimum number of hours per month) to participating community members.
Collective: Resource Offering an indoor or outdoor space for rent, on residential property that you own, or otherwise reside, for purposes other than room & board living. The space offered may be a studio or workspace, storage shed, beautiful yard for weddings, space for shared gardens, or something else entirely. As the property owner, you know best what you have to offer the Fire Well Community. Community property owners set the fee schedule for their properties as they deem necessary. The fee schedule is not changed without 30 days warning to the tenants and not more than once per calendar year. As a Community Property Owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model of landlord/tenant contractual agreement. The relationship between you as property owner and tenant (person renting the space from you) is clearly defined, offering and agreeing to accept a percentage of rent from the tenant in “cash”, while allowing them to fulfill the barter portion of their rent by donating their skills, products, or services (for a minimum number of hours per month) to participating community members.
Types of Members
Community Property Owner: A community property owner controls property in which space is offered to persons throughout the greater community following the Fire Well Collective model of alternative economy. Offered properties can vary from from Residential Properties open public spaces. Contractual agreements for alternative living follow The Fire Well Community model and are adapted by the Community Property Owner to meet the needs of the property of residence. Ultimately, the fee structure of the households, will be determined by the participating property owner.
As a Community Property Owner, you agree to follow the Fire Well Collective model of landlord/tenant contractual agreement.
The relationship between you as property owner and tenant (person renting the space from you) is clearly defined, by agreeing to accept full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly from the tenant, (as defined per contract). All other details are to be negotiated between property owner and tenant.
Residential Community Tenant: A residential community tenant lives in one of the participating collective households.
The fee structure of the households, will be determined by the participating property owner.
Private: Business Offering employment on a temporary or long term basis. As the business owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model and support barter by exchanging goods or services with participating members on a case-by-case basis. The business relationship you offer is contractually defined, by agreeing to provide full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly to the “employee” or member. All other details are to be negotiated between parties privately.
The Fire Well Collective is not responsible for the finances of the member's personal business and will not act as a creditor in regards to tracking down debtors.
Collective: Business As the business owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model and support barter exchange of goods or services with participating members openly as a regular means of exchange. You support the collective economy by hiring your business employees from within the collective membership whenever possible. The business relationship you offer is contractually defined, and may include full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly to the “employee”. All other details are to be negotiated between parties privately.
The Fire Well Collective is not responsible for the finances of the member's personal business and will not act as a creditor in regards to tracking down debtors.
By strengthening the bond within the community and improving the supportive and sustainable interpersonal relationships in business and family matters, we strengthen our community, and thus nurture ourselves.
$200 per adult
Plus $100 per room
Plus $50 per child
For example Persons with the privacy of their own room are responsible for $300.
A parent sharing a room with their child would be responsible for $350.
Two people sharing a room would together be responsible for $500.
*These costs include all utilities, maintenance, and standard consumable products (such as toilet paper and dishsoap)
Types of Members
Community Property Owner: A community property owner controls property in which space is offered to persons throughout the greater community following the Fire Well Collective model of alternative economy.
Offered properties can vary from from Residential Properties open public spaces.
Contractual agreements for alternative living follow The Fire Well Community model and are adapted by the Community Property Owner to meet the needs of the property of residence. Ultimately, the fee structure of the households, will be determined by the participating property owner.
As a Community Property Owner, you agree to follow the Fire Well Collective model of landlord/tenant contractual agreement.
The relationship between you as property owner and tenant (person renting the space from you) is clearly defined, by agreeing to accept full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly from the tenant, (as defined per contract). All other details are to be negotiated between property owner and tenant.
Residential Community Tenant
A residential community tenant lives in one of the participating collective households.
The fee structure of the households, will be determined by the participating property owner.
Private: Business Offering employment on a temporary or long term basis. As the business owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model and support barter by exchanging goods or services with participating members on a case-by-case basis. The business relationship you offer is contractually defined, by agreeing to provide full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly to the “employee” or member. All other details are to be negotiated between parties privately.
The Fire Well Collective is not responsible for the finances of the member's personal business and will not act as a creditor in regards to tracking down debtors.
Collective: Business As the business owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model and support barter exchange of goods or services with participating members openly as a regular means of exchange. You support the collective economy by hiring your business employees from within the collective membership whenever possible. The business relationship you offer is contractually defined, and may include full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly to the “employee”. All other details are to be negotiated between parties privately.
The Fire Well Collective is not responsible for the finances of the member's personal business and will not act as a creditor in regards to tracking down debtors.
Types of Properties
While The Fire Well Collective is not responsible for the tenant or property owner regarding fulfilling their contractual agreements, we encourage active collective participation, and open communication. If there is a problem that is not resolved within the group meetings of your own collective household, that you would like assistance with, we will do our best to assist. For example, we may be able to help find work hours for someone with a specialized skill. Or help find a more well suited placement for a community member that is not working out in a particular collective household.
We can guarantee that the more active a member you are, the richer the experience will be for you.
Private: Residential A room or rooms (as available) for rent in the home in which you reside. While the other members of your home may not necessarily be participating members of the Fire Well Community, as a Community Property Owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model of landlord/tenant contractual agreement. The relationship between you as property owner and tenant (person renting the room from you) is clearly defined, by agreeing to accept full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly from the tenant, (as defined per contract). All other details are to be negotiated between property owner and tenant.
Private: Resource Offering an indoor or outdoor space for rent, on residential property that you own, or otherwise reside, for purposes other than room & board living. The space offered may be a studio or workspace, storage shed, beautiful yard for weddings, space for shared gardens, or something else entirely. As the property owner, you know best what you have to offer the Fire Well Community.
Collective: Residential Offering multiple rooms (as available) for rent in a collective household, which you manage or own. All members of the household are participating collective community tenants. Rental fee structures must include details outlining: the inclusion of utilities, the contribution requirement for participating in shared healthy meals, and any additional amenities. Amenities may vary from property to property. Community property owners set the fee schedule for their properties as they deem necessary. The fee schedule is not changed without 30 days warning to the tenants and not more than once per calendar year. As a Community Property Owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model of landlord/tenant contractual agreement. The relationship between you as property owner and tenant (person renting the room from you) is clearly defined, offering and agreeing to accept a percentage of rent from the tenant in “cash”, while allowing them to fulfill the barter portion of their rent by donating their skills, products, or services (for a minimum number of hours per month) to participating community members.
Collective: Resource Offering an indoor or outdoor space for rent, on residential property that you own, or otherwise reside, for purposes other than room & board living. The space offered may be a studio or workspace, storage shed, beautiful yard for weddings, space for shared gardens, or something else entirely. As the property owner, you know best what you have to offer the Fire Well Community. Community property owners set the fee schedule for their properties as they deem necessary. The fee schedule is not changed without 30 days warning to the tenants and not more than once per calendar year. As a Community Property Owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model of landlord/tenant contractual agreement. The relationship between you as property owner and tenant (person renting the space from you) is clearly defined, offering and agreeing to accept a percentage of rent from the tenant in “cash”, while allowing them to fulfill the barter portion of their rent by donating their skills, products, or services (for a minimum number of hours per month) to participating community members.
Types of Members
Community Property Owner: A community property owner controls property in which space is offered to persons throughout the greater community following the Fire Well Collective model of alternative economy. Offered properties can vary from from Residential Properties open public spaces. Contractual agreements for alternative living follow The Fire Well Community model and are adapted by the Community Property Owner to meet the needs of the property of residence. Ultimately, the fee structure of the households, will be determined by the participating property owner.
As a Community Property Owner, you agree to follow the Fire Well Collective model of landlord/tenant contractual agreement.
The relationship between you as property owner and tenant (person renting the space from you) is clearly defined, by agreeing to accept full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly from the tenant, (as defined per contract). All other details are to be negotiated between property owner and tenant.
Residential Community Tenant: A residential community tenant lives in one of the participating collective households.
The fee structure of the households, will be determined by the participating property owner.
Private: Business Offering employment on a temporary or long term basis. As the business owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model and support barter by exchanging goods or services with participating members on a case-by-case basis. The business relationship you offer is contractually defined, by agreeing to provide full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly to the “employee” or member. All other details are to be negotiated between parties privately.
The Fire Well Collective is not responsible for the finances of the member's personal business and will not act as a creditor in regards to tracking down debtors.
Collective: Business As the business owner, you follow the Fire Well Collective model and support barter exchange of goods or services with participating members openly as a regular means of exchange. You support the collective economy by hiring your business employees from within the collective membership whenever possible. The business relationship you offer is contractually defined, and may include full or partial barter of a specific product or service, directly to the “employee”. All other details are to be negotiated between parties privately.
The Fire Well Collective is not responsible for the finances of the member's personal business and will not act as a creditor in regards to tracking down debtors.
By strengthening the bond within the community and improving the supportive and sustainable interpersonal relationships in business and family matters, we strengthen our community, and thus nurture ourselves.