save the historic arivaca hotel.
A 500-person village in southern Arizona is racing the monsoon to save an 1879 Adobe building their community has anchored for 146 years. Donations go directly to the Arivaca Coordinating Council's restoration fund.
$10,000 for the roof + east wall.
The east Adobe wall has a crack all the way through. It has to be fixed before the rains hit or the building loses another wall to water. Full restoration is $100,000. The immediate ask is the $10K that buys time.
donate to the restoration fundDonations are processed through Donorbox on behalf of the Arivaca Coordinating Council.
a place time forgot, on purpose.
Arivaca sits about 60 miles southwest of Tucson and 11 miles north of the Mexican border. Roughly 500 people live there. No Target. No Circle K. No big-box anything, and that's by design. The village keeps developers out so the place stays the place.
The community runs on the Arivaca Coordinating Council, a small nonprofit that's been the village's safety net for 40 years. They deliver meals to 80 of those 500 residents on a typical day, out of a building that's 20 years older than the hotel they're now trying to save.
That hotel was built in 1879. Over the years it's been a hotel, the Buffalo Soldiers' barracks, the post office, the mercantile. Today it's closed, and the east Adobe wall has a crack running all the way through. Arizona's monsoon will be on it in weeks.
three rooms. one building. the whole village.
- Visitor center
The first stop for anyone driving into Arivaca: orientation, history, and a place for villagers and visitors to meet.
- Village museum
Pieces from the hotel's own 146 years on Main Street, plus the broader story of Arivaca and the Buffalo Soldiers who barracked here in the 1880s.
- Artist co-op
Arivaca's a working artists' town with no place to sell. The hotel reopens a consignment space so local makers can show and move their work.
jeep #43 in the 3k to exotic challenge.
An elderly resident named Ed passed away in Arivaca and donated his entire estate to the Coordinating Council. One of the pieces was a 2000 Jeep Cherokee XJ, an Arizona car its whole life, garage-kept, brand-new tires, ~$3,000 already invested in mechanicals. They were going to raffle it to raise hotel money.
Instead, they reached out to us. We paid $5,000 for the Jeep up front. That money goes straight into the restoration fund. We're cleaning the Jeep up, listing it on the show, and half of every dollar of profit above $5,000 goes back to Arivaca too.
The other reason for the trip: the village said yes because they wanted to tell their story, not just raise the money. This page is that story.
every dollar buys time.
The east wall has a crack all the way through and monsoon is coming. If you can spare anything, this is the moment.
donate nowHave questions or want to coordinate a larger gift? Email [email protected] and we'll connect you with the Council directly.