Unique Descendants
Donation protected
Unique Descendants’ purpose is to promote health, education, employment and empowerment programs that propel the descendants of Gee’s Bend into more stable prosperous futures.
Unique Descendants was founded when, after years of independent research, Kisha Pettway Porcher, Cornelia Pettway Scott, and Queenie Pettway Collins began collaborating on the Pettway family trees via ancestry.com and Facebook. This led to a physical meeting in Selma, AL in the days prior to the annual Gee’s Bend May Day event in May 2012. As a result of the subsequent Facebook exposure, Unique Descendants has experienced phenomenal interest and is now seeking public funding to assist in scaling the organization to the next level.
Services Provided
Care Packages
The care package program will be reserved for disasters, single parents, military members and college students and will include things like soap, lotion, deodorant, and other every day basic needs. It is a program designed to reduce financial stress in the highly stressful situations.
The cost of creating a Care Package is $25-$30.
Emergency Assistance Program
The Emergency Assistance Program is intended to provide interim financial assistance to descendants of Gees Bend whose needs are the result of an unforeseen, catastrophic incident, and who lack the resources to meet that situation. Each grant is given as one-time assistance for a specific emergency, examples of which are fire, flood, or emergency medical need or sudden reduction in work hours.
Emergency Assistance is available on a one-time basis and is limited to $100 per applicant.
Quilting Classes
Our quilting classes are a way to continue the legacy that so many of our grandmothers, great grandmothers and aunts started. It is also a way to build community and relationships between the descendants of Gee’s Bend. Our ancestors quilted to keep their families warm on cold winter nights and those quilts were passed down for generations to come along with the love of quilting and the desire to create, but some don’t know where or how to begin.
Financial Aid Counseling
College is expensive. Our purpose is to provide counseling on the financial aid process to those who would otherwise get frustrated with the bureaucratic channels and invasive questioning. Although numerous descendants of Gee’s Bend have become doctors, lawyers, teachers, there are still many that will be the first in their family to attend college. The financial aid counseling program is helpful in filling out financial aid paperwork and researching relevant grants.
Family Connection Program
Our family connection program is a way to introduce our younger generation to their elders and our familial history and traditions. It is also a way to make sure that our community has a support system to encourage, motivate and usher them into a moral, responsible adult life. The program will be connecting primarily Junior High and High School students with responsible, caring adults, to build positive mentoring relationships and guide students to wise, constructive choices that will help them to be purposeful and positive contributors in their communities. Mentees will have the ability to develop mentoring relationships where mentoring is not otherwise readily available.
Restoration and Renovation
Unique Descendants Inc. coordinates efforts to repair, improve, or modernize dwellings or to remove health and safety hazards. Approximately 1/3 of Gee’s Bend residents are living in homes that require significant repair of structural items such as roofs and porches. Nearly half would benefit from general repairs and maintenance.
Unique Descendants proposes to act as the prime contractor for getting repairs done to this home. We would, with the owners’ approval, hire expert contractors to not only repair these homes but to maintain the architectural integrity of the home.
The cost of a bringing a home up-to-date can range from $1,000 to $10,000 per home.
Please donate generously to this cause. Donations in ANY amount will make a difference in someone's life! Thank you!
For more information including a full description of our services, please visit us at our website
Unique Descendants was founded when, after years of independent research, Kisha Pettway Porcher, Cornelia Pettway Scott, and Queenie Pettway Collins began collaborating on the Pettway family trees via ancestry.com and Facebook. This led to a physical meeting in Selma, AL in the days prior to the annual Gee’s Bend May Day event in May 2012. As a result of the subsequent Facebook exposure, Unique Descendants has experienced phenomenal interest and is now seeking public funding to assist in scaling the organization to the next level.
Services Provided
Care Packages
The care package program will be reserved for disasters, single parents, military members and college students and will include things like soap, lotion, deodorant, and other every day basic needs. It is a program designed to reduce financial stress in the highly stressful situations.
The cost of creating a Care Package is $25-$30.
Emergency Assistance Program
The Emergency Assistance Program is intended to provide interim financial assistance to descendants of Gees Bend whose needs are the result of an unforeseen, catastrophic incident, and who lack the resources to meet that situation. Each grant is given as one-time assistance for a specific emergency, examples of which are fire, flood, or emergency medical need or sudden reduction in work hours.
Emergency Assistance is available on a one-time basis and is limited to $100 per applicant.
Quilting Classes
Our quilting classes are a way to continue the legacy that so many of our grandmothers, great grandmothers and aunts started. It is also a way to build community and relationships between the descendants of Gee’s Bend. Our ancestors quilted to keep their families warm on cold winter nights and those quilts were passed down for generations to come along with the love of quilting and the desire to create, but some don’t know where or how to begin.
Financial Aid Counseling
College is expensive. Our purpose is to provide counseling on the financial aid process to those who would otherwise get frustrated with the bureaucratic channels and invasive questioning. Although numerous descendants of Gee’s Bend have become doctors, lawyers, teachers, there are still many that will be the first in their family to attend college. The financial aid counseling program is helpful in filling out financial aid paperwork and researching relevant grants.
Family Connection Program
Our family connection program is a way to introduce our younger generation to their elders and our familial history and traditions. It is also a way to make sure that our community has a support system to encourage, motivate and usher them into a moral, responsible adult life. The program will be connecting primarily Junior High and High School students with responsible, caring adults, to build positive mentoring relationships and guide students to wise, constructive choices that will help them to be purposeful and positive contributors in their communities. Mentees will have the ability to develop mentoring relationships where mentoring is not otherwise readily available.
Restoration and Renovation
Unique Descendants Inc. coordinates efforts to repair, improve, or modernize dwellings or to remove health and safety hazards. Approximately 1/3 of Gee’s Bend residents are living in homes that require significant repair of structural items such as roofs and porches. Nearly half would benefit from general repairs and maintenance.
Unique Descendants proposes to act as the prime contractor for getting repairs done to this home. We would, with the owners’ approval, hire expert contractors to not only repair these homes but to maintain the architectural integrity of the home.
The cost of a bringing a home up-to-date can range from $1,000 to $10,000 per home.
Please donate generously to this cause. Donations in ANY amount will make a difference in someone's life! Thank you!
For more information including a full description of our services, please visit us at our website
Organizer
Queenie Pettway Collins
Organizer
Glastonbury, CT
