Sapelo Island Sugar Cane Fund
Donation protected
Dear friends,
Thank you for sharing and contributing to the Sapelo Island Sugar Cane Fund.
This fund is a celebration of Southern Black resilience through farming and land-based cooperation. With the support of other Georgians and all who believe that healing can take place in sites of violence, we can begin to preserve the legacy of this historic land. Sapelo Island is a barrier island off the Southeast coast of Georgia and is home to a community of Black families that descend directly from Africans who were brought to the island and enslaved. Long after slavery was abolished in the United States, those families continued to resist the ongoing effects of white supremacy by retaining key aspects of West African culture, as well as languages and traditions they developed while in captivity.
Today, some of the remaining descendants on the island are carrying on the legacy of resistance that their ancestors championed. Maurice Bailey is one such leader, whose work honors that of his infamous mother Cornelia Walker Bailey. She was an island matriarch and griot who had a vision of her people returning to their heritage of planting red peas and sugar cane before she passed away. Maurice and others are manifesting this vision by sowing sugar cane in order to reap self-determination and healing. Planting, harvesting and selling the sugar cane encourages greater community participation from residents of Sapelo Island, helps to combat severe food insecurity experienced by island natives and brings the group one step closer to running the project independently.
We will use the funds raised in this GoFundMe to send young volunteers down to McIntosh County to help Maurice and his team process the sugar cane into syrup to be sold on the mainland to bring resources back into the community. Funds will also be used to prepare for planting season in the spring and ensure that the project is sustained. With your help, we can cover the cost of transportation, lodging, food, face masks, hand sanitizer, tools for working and utensils for eating, compensate local folks for the use of their facilities, and other expenses. In addition, volunteers will have the chance to build relationships and solidarity with folks on the island and other rural farmers in South Georgia, and share in Black love, joy and resistance.
Please consider sending a message to us through GoFundMe with your name, cell phone number, and donation amount so that we can send you future updates about the project as well as a personal thank-you for your donation. We depend completely on volunteer support and donations to keep this project going so every single offering makes a difference.
Until we all get free,
Jill for Sapelo
Thank you for sharing and contributing to the Sapelo Island Sugar Cane Fund.
This fund is a celebration of Southern Black resilience through farming and land-based cooperation. With the support of other Georgians and all who believe that healing can take place in sites of violence, we can begin to preserve the legacy of this historic land. Sapelo Island is a barrier island off the Southeast coast of Georgia and is home to a community of Black families that descend directly from Africans who were brought to the island and enslaved. Long after slavery was abolished in the United States, those families continued to resist the ongoing effects of white supremacy by retaining key aspects of West African culture, as well as languages and traditions they developed while in captivity.
Today, some of the remaining descendants on the island are carrying on the legacy of resistance that their ancestors championed. Maurice Bailey is one such leader, whose work honors that of his infamous mother Cornelia Walker Bailey. She was an island matriarch and griot who had a vision of her people returning to their heritage of planting red peas and sugar cane before she passed away. Maurice and others are manifesting this vision by sowing sugar cane in order to reap self-determination and healing. Planting, harvesting and selling the sugar cane encourages greater community participation from residents of Sapelo Island, helps to combat severe food insecurity experienced by island natives and brings the group one step closer to running the project independently.
We will use the funds raised in this GoFundMe to send young volunteers down to McIntosh County to help Maurice and his team process the sugar cane into syrup to be sold on the mainland to bring resources back into the community. Funds will also be used to prepare for planting season in the spring and ensure that the project is sustained. With your help, we can cover the cost of transportation, lodging, food, face masks, hand sanitizer, tools for working and utensils for eating, compensate local folks for the use of their facilities, and other expenses. In addition, volunteers will have the chance to build relationships and solidarity with folks on the island and other rural farmers in South Georgia, and share in Black love, joy and resistance.
Please consider sending a message to us through GoFundMe with your name, cell phone number, and donation amount so that we can send you future updates about the project as well as a personal thank-you for your donation. We depend completely on volunteer support and donations to keep this project going so every single offering makes a difference.
Until we all get free,
Jill for Sapelo
Organizer
Jill Cartwright
Organizer
Atlanta, GA