ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATION:

Sovereign Seed Sanctuary

Status: 508(c)(1)(A) Nonprofit

EIN: 41-3014160

Founded: 2025

State: Ohio

Mission Statement:

Sovereign Seed Sanctuary is a faith-based 508(c)(1)(A) nonprofit rooted in sacred stewardship, regenerative education, and food sovereignty. We heal land, nourish bodies, and build resilient local communities, rooted in the doctrine that cultivation is prayer, preservation is purpose, and community is sacred.

Vision:

Sovereign Seed Sanctuary envisions a world where rural food deserts are transformed into sites of abundance and community healing, where working-class families can access fresh, nutrient-dense, locally grown food; where the living heritage of seeds is protected for future generations; and where a replicable, sustaining model demonstrates that community organizations can become stable regional anchors of food, medicine, and education.

Faith Foundation & Doctrinal Basis:

Sovereign Seed Sanctuary is organized as a 508(c)(1)(A) church with a clearly articulated Articles of Faith, adopted during its founding in 2025. The Sanctuary's spiritual path is centered on sacred stewardship, which is the belief that tending the land, preserving seeds, cultivating food, and nourishing community are acts of devotion and sacred service. The organization's specific purposes are:

To establish and maintain a sanctuary for spiritual practice, prayer, and ceremony centered on the sacred cycles of nature.
To advance a spiritual path based on the doctrines and tenets .
To provide educational instruction on sustainable living, permaculture design, herbalism, and holistic wellness as expressions of faith.
To engage in charitable activities, including the cultivation and distribution of food and medicine to the community, as a form of sacred service.
To act as stewards for the planet by engaging in the preservation of heirloom seeds, the conservation of water resources, and the protection of land for future generations, holding these elements in sacred trust for all of Earth.

Core Organizational Values:

Sovereignty: Every community has the right to grow, preserve, and share its own food and seeds, free from corporate or institutional dependency.
Transparency: We operate with full financial openness, documented governance, and honest communication with all funders, partners, and community members.
Regeneration: We practice and teach agriculture that heals soil, water, and ecosystems while building long-term economic sustainability.
Accessibility: We prioritize SNAP/EBT acceptance, sliding-scale education, and free community resources to ensure our programs reach those who need them most.
Sacred Service: Every task, from transplanting seedlings to filing grant reports, is undertaken as an act of service to the land and community.

Founding Story:

Sovereign Seed Sanctuary was born from lived experience. Founding Steward Bryce Gaetano grew up in northeast Ohio surrounded by the same food deserts, economic decline, and broken supply chains that the Sanctuary now works to heal. Watching working-class families, neighbors, classmates, community members, navigate poverty without access to fresh, affordable food was everyday life. That proximity to struggle became the seed of a conviction: that the communities most harmed by industrial food systems and predatory healthcare systems deserve to be the ones who rebuild something better.

Building the skills to actually grow food, preserve seeds, cultivate medicine, and design regenerative systems required years of self-directed learning, personal sacrifice, and pushing against every structure that makes sovereignty hard to access for people without land, capital, or institutional backing. Permaculture design, mushroom cultivation, herbalism, and regenerative agriculture were the practical tools of liberation, gathered one hard-won skill at a time across communities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, St. Thomas (USVI), and beyond.

Sovereign Seed Sanctuary represents the collective answer to a collective problem. Columbiana, Mahoning, and Trumbull Counties carry some of the highest poverty and food insecurity rates in Ohio, and the rural communities of the Mahoning Valley have been systematically underserved by the institutions designed to help them. The Sanctuary was built rooted in the knowledge that growing food is an act of sacred service, preserving seeds is a prayer for the future, and healthily feeding your neighbors is an act of radical compassion. As we grow from these roots we will work to bring abundance and education to every space we get the opportunity to grow in.

In 2025, the decision was made to formalize this work within a permanent, community-serving structure. Sovereign Seed Sanctuary was incorporated as an Ohio nonprofit corporation and recognized as a 508(c)(1)(A) faith-based church, with Founding Documents and Articles of Faith. A founding Board of Stewards was seated, bylaws were adopted, and state recognition and an EIN were secured, positioning the Sanctuary to receive grants and steward land, facilities, and community programs for the long term.

In early 2026, The Sanctuary secured a 1,000 sq ft commercial building in Lisbon, Ohio, designated as the site for a year-round indoor mushroom and microgreen production facility and community education hub, as well as a partnership with Honeycomb Arts and Wellness Collective for a one acre pollinator paradise and food sovereignty project in the heart of Youngstown, Ohio.

These projects will serve to be the teaching points and examples to the community of what is possible when we all come together to grow our own sovereignty with the resources provided.

Founding Board Members:

The following biographies represent the founding Board of Stewards of Sovereign Seed Sanctuary. Each member brings complementary expertise essential to the Sanctuary's mission.

Bryce Gaetano

Founding Steward | President | LLC Manager/Operator

Bryce Gaetano is the Founding Steward of Sovereign Seed Sanctuary and the driving visionary behind the organization's creation. He brings over a decade of hands-on experience in permaculture design, mycology, herbalism, and regenerative agriculture, with a practice that has served clients and communities across Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and St. Thomas, USVI. Bryce has designed and installed diverse agroecological systems, led mushroom cultivation workshops, guided forage forays, and developed educational programming in herbalism and soil health. His work has always centered around community engagement, making ecological knowledge and fresh food accessible to working-class and rural populations. As Founding Steward, Bryce oversees day-to-day operations, manages facility build-out, leads grant strategy and application development, and manages both subsidiary LLCs. With his role as an educator and community organizer, he is deeply devoted to planting seeds of sovereignty everywhere that he can.

John Janczewski

Founding Steward | Treasurer | Board Member

John Janczewski serves as Treasurer of Sovereign Seed Sanctuary. John "Janji" Janczewski is an entrepreneur, real estate investor, and community builder dedicated to creating systems that support both human and ecological resilience. With a background spanning property management, concert and event curation, and a successful career in sales, he brings a grounded, real-world perspective to building and sustaining ventures that serve people in tangible ways. Alongside his work, he is always deepening his practices in Ashtanga yoga, breathwork, and partner acrobatics reflecting a deep commitment to holistic health, movement, and sustainable living that extends beyond business into how we live, connect, and care for the land. Aligned with the mission of Sovereign Seed Sanctuary, John believes true sovereignty is rooted in access to nourishing food, shared knowledge, and regenerative practices. John is driven to help cultivate communities and ecosystems where people can reconnect with nature, build resilience, and participate in a more intentional, interconnected future.

Katlyn Jackson

Founding Steward | Secretary | Board Member

Katlyn is a community leader, event organizer, and breast cancer survivor whose personal healing journey deepened her commitment to food sovereignty and accessible nutrition. A licensed massage therapist, holistic healer, professional photographer, and graphic designer, Katlyn brings both creative vision and lived wisdom to the Board. She is an active participant in local markets and community nonprofits throughout the Valley. Katlyn's attention to detail and commitment to organizational excellence have been instrumental in building the governance infrastructure that grant funders require. Her creative skills, including recent investment in design tools, supporter relationships, and event planning, support the Sanctuary's outward-facing communications.

Program Overview:

Sovereign Seed Sanctuary currently operates three integrated program strands, all working toward the operational launch of the Lisbon facility and the installation of the Honeycomb Arts and Wellness Collective Permaculture Garden. These programs reflect the Sanctuary's holistic approach to food sovereignty: growing food, educating community members, and building the organizational infrastructure to sustain and scale this work.

Regenerative Food Production & Access (via Sovereign Seed Farms, LLC)

The Sanctuary is preparing to activate its 1,000 sq ft Lisbon building as a year-round indoor mushroom and microgreens production facility. Production will scale from 50 lbs/week to 250 lbs/week of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms and high-nutrient microgreens. SNAP/EBT acceptance will ensure that low-income families can double their purchasing power for fresh produce and medicinals.

Education & Skill-Building (via Sovereign Seed Designs, LLC & Sanctuary Programming)

Through Sovereign Seed Designs and direct Sanctuary programming, the organization delivers mushroom cultivation workshops, regenerative design consultations, and educational curriculum for community members, beginning farmers, and youth. Monthly workshops (targeting 15–25 participants per session) cover cultivation, seed preservation, herbalism, and soil health. Garden/Facility tours, youth curriculum, and community apprenticeships (Year 2+) are planned. Educational hours are documented as in-kind match for grants while actively building local food production skills.

Sovereign Seed Sanctuary

EIN: 41-3014160 | 508(c)(1)(A) Nonprofit | Founded 2025 | Lisbon, Ohio

sovereignseedsanctuary.love | sovereignseedsanctuary@gmail.com | (248) 942-0673

Cultivation is Prayer. Preservation is Purpose. Community is Sacred.

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