Building For Our Future

CREATING A RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY FOR PCJH STAFF

BUILDING FOR OUR

FUTURE COME JOIN US!

MY PEOPLE WILL LIVE IN PEACEFUL DWELLING PLACES, IN SECURE HOMES, IN UNDISTURBED PLACES OF REST. ~ ISAIAH 32:18

THE ORIGINAL HOMESTEAD ON THE CURRENT SITE

August 13, 2000 was a thrilling day when a small parade of dedicated and God-loving people marched up South Park Loop Road to the new Presbyterian Church of Jackson Hole.

Over the two decades since, our church has cultivated a vibrant ministry for our members and fulfilled the great commandment to serve our neighbors.

In 2023, we face a new challenge to secure the future of our church – a shortage of staff due to the high cost and limited availability of housing in Jackson Hole. It has been difficult to recruit and retain staff because they cannot find affordable places to live. We have seven full-time and up to 35 part-time positions but some remain vacant. This is putting undue burden on our pastors, current employees and volunteers. It has also impacted our ministries and the ability to serve our members, our community and our world.

The important role of Children’s Ministry Coordinator has been unfilled for almost two years.

Housing is a major hurdle in hiring someone for this position. Thankfully our leadership had the foresight to lease an apartment where this person can live once hired. Our popular JOY Summer Camp which in 2022 served 222 young people has been paused for the unforeseeable future as it was severely understaffed in the past few years due to not being able to hire and house enough young adult counselors to run the program. Some of our current staff also face serious housing disruptions, moving frequently in order to afford rents.

COMMUNITY IMPACT It is not only our ministry to our congregation that is being impacted. It is also our community. Each year PCJH touches hundreds of Jackson Hole neighbors in multiple ways.: Free Wednesday dinners for the community Meals delivered to shut-ins Winter clothing drives for needy families Preschool with 45 enrolled children Breakfast and devotional for 11 Middle school students weekly Breakfast and devotional for 6 High school students weekly Music academy that engages 40 students weekly Facilities for community organizations who hold musical performances, lectures, classes, meetings and luncheons at the church Certified kitchen used by community groups who prepare meals for those in need and during emergencies, hold cooking classes and create meals for special gatherings We are proud that our church has a strong legacy of making itself readily available for community-wide needs. Our church hosted COVID-19 vaccination clinics. When the power went out during sub-zero temperatures, the church opened a pop-up emergency shelter.

We now find ourselves in a vulnerable situation! Without essential staff, we cannot continue the services we now provide.

PHASE 1 A Staff Housing Committee was assigned to tackle this issue in 2020. Unlike other entities in our community which face a similar staff/housing crisis, PCJH has a rare asset—an appropriate site for housing on our campus. PCJH owns a 3 acre site adjacent to our parking lot along South Park Loop Road. After a review of all options, our Staff Housing Committee concluded that building on our vacant site is the best and least expensive way to create homes for our staff. Owning the land substantially lowers the building costs. In addition, these new homes fit the Town Plan for the residential character of the neighborhood and contribute to the workforce housing inventory.

To create a plan for the site, PCJH selected GreenSpur, a design-build firm led by Mark Turner.

A Jackson Hole native, Mark understands the history, culture and aesthetic of our community and is a champion of pocket communities. His firm’s innovative pocket community in Bentonville, Arkansas, has received widespread admiration for its design and enjoyed incredible popularity with residents.

The architect inspired us to adopt a larger vision and plan for a pocket community that will be a more attractive place to live and more complementary to our neighborhood. This community eventually will comprise 21 modestly sized townhomes with front porches facing a central village green, extensive open spaces for recreation and two gathering buildings. Further, it can be developed in phases.

Because approval from the Town of Jackson may require up to a year, the Staff Housing Committee and Session decided it prudent to apply for all 21 townhomes simultaneously. In Phase 1, only 10 of the townhomes plus a small Fellowship Cabin will be built. These will be a mix of one, two and three bedroom townhomes plus one four-bedroom unit. These will fulfill the immediate church needs.

BY THE GRACE GOD HAS GIVEN ME, I LAID A FOUNDATION AS A WISE BUILDER, AND SOMEONE ELSE IS BUILDING ON IT. BUT EACH ONE SHOULD BUILD WITH CARE. FOR NO ONE CAN LAY ANY FOUNDATION OTHER THAN THE ONE ALREADY LAID, WHICH IS JESUS CHRIST. ~ 1 CORINTHIANS 3:10-11

PHASE 2 Phase 2 of the community will include an additional 11 townhomes and possibly an assembly building for church or community use. This phase will be built in the future as funding allows and will ensure PCJH can provide homes for future staff or as church mission determines.

The homes will be constructed using sustainable materials with modular systems built off-site and assembled on-site, reducing costs significantly. The site has easy access to necessary utilities, lowering these infrastructure costs.

We are depending on our church members and friends to provide the funding for Phase 1 of our campus housing. Half of the $250,000 needed to pay upfront costs for permitting, design and engineering has already been donated. The cost for building the first 10 homes and Fellowship Cabin is estimated at $7.5 million. We hope to secure commitments for the $7.5 million this year.

We have retained Horizons, a fundraising firm that works with churches and non-profit organizations, to advise us. After analyzing our fundraising picture and early meetings with potential donors, Horizons believes that we can achieve our $7.5 million fundraising goal.

JOIN US AS WE BUILD FOR OUR FUTURE

“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” ~ Proverbs 24:3-4 We lean on the wisdom of our founders who provided the land to make this opportunity possible and affordable.

We value the understanding of our Session leaders, our pastors and our congregation that it is imperative to provide homes for our staff to achieve our mission and build for our future.

We cherish the knowledge that we will be the ones who bring our treasures to fulfill a second grand Spirit-driven vision and secure our future for generations to come.

Join us as we move forward, prayerfully and hopefully, to complete this glorious endeavor, confident that grace alone brings about every good work in us. Our Staff Housing Committee would be pleased to provide more facts and figures by phone, email or in-person.

THANK YOU