When Jaxon Smith prayed for direction last winter, he didn’t expect the answer to involve Costco.
Following divine guidance, he decided to found the Men’s Mental Health Community Club (MMHCC), which started with weekly meet-ups at the retailer warehouse in Orem, Utah.
“Men don’t go to therapy; they go to Costco,” Jaxon jokes in a social media post.
While the club has since expanded beyond Costco meet-ups, Jaxon believes the MMHCC serves a vital need for connection and belonging. And this kind of ministering is a natural extension of his own faith as a Latter-day Saint.
A Prayer and a Project
It all started in November 2025, around the time daylight savings ended. “It was getting dark at, like, 5,” Jaxon remembers.
The seasonal change was impacting him negatively because he couldn’t spend as much time outdoors, and he felt like he needed a project where he could build a greater sense of momentum and purpose. So, he prayed and asked Heavenly Father for guidance on what he should be doing.
Soon after, he was on a weekly excursion to Costco with some friends. “We’d always run into familiar faces. We were talking, and we had the idea: What if we just invited all the boys and got everyone together?”
When he couldn’t shake the thought, he posted an Instagram video pitching the concept of a weekly meet-up for men to eat affordable food and make new friends. The response was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. People he’d never met were reaching out, saying this was exactly what they needed.
The Men’s Mental Health Community Club started meeting at Costco every week.
Jackson says he’s seen men continue to join week after week and develop newfound friendships and confidence. “When people come, you can kind of tell they’re out of their comfort zone. But by the time they walk away,… their heads are a little higher, and they look more confident in who they are.”
As the club has grown beyond exclusively Costco meet-ups to accommodate more people and activities, Jaxon says he’s constantly seeking heavenly direction. “I ask, ‘How can I make this better, how can I impact more of Your children?’”
Choosing to Look Outward
While Jaxon believes the club helps fill a void in men’s support groups, he says it has also taught him the valuable lesson that God doesn’t want us to go through life alone.
“I’m very confident that God puts people in our lives for our benefit,” he shares. “And He puts us in others’ lives to help and support them. … If we are looking outward rather than inward, we have those opportunities to serve and to minister.”
And that’s exactly what the club has become for Jaxon—an opportunity to focus on building others up. “It was something that God needed me to do,” he explains.
For others who want to put more good into the world, Jaxon suggests simply taking the first step with faith. As you act, he believes that God will continue to give direction and lead you to others who can help.
“Faith is an action word. If you have an idea, great. But if you do something about it, that’s when you’ll start to see the difference you can make.”
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