Medical and Maintenance Fund

Contribute to Jim’s healing:
Help Preserve His Legacy at Geechee Kunda

Geechee Kunda is the only Gullah Geechee owned and run cultural center in the world. The name “Geechee" refers to, as their website states, “the African-based culture that is deeply entrenched here in Coastal Georgia, and the people who live here”.  Jim and Pat Bacote built Geechee Kunda fifteen years ago on a plot of land in Riceboro, Ga.  It is a Cultural Center, living museum, and also home to both Jim and Pat. Over the years, the compound has grown to include a gallery, gift shop, outside theater, outdoor kitchen, outdoor facilities, sugarcane grinding center, a prototype African-style hut, and a recently acquired 1930’s praise house that is in the process of being restored. This growth has all happened with the continued help of friends and family. Since its founding, the space has lived up to its name: “Kunda” means, as their website also states, “home of hope” and “compound”. Beyond hosting large annual events such as “The Gathering” and the annual Sugarcane Harvesting Festival, they host smaller events for universities, churches, family reunions, and many other groups. Geechee Kunda has become a cultural hub and a gathering space that is invaluable to its expansive community and to the world.

In April of this year, Jim was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer that metastasized to his brain. He has been making regular trips to receive radiation treatment and will be undergoing chemotherapy. The Bacotes have confronted this news with grace and an outlook that centers life and God’s wisdom. Though he and those close to him feel it is important to not focus on the constraints that this diagnosis brings, there is still a great need for support from the larger community.

Something that is truly remarkable about the Bacotes is that they personally fund the events that they host at Geechee Kunda. Most other nonprofits and cultural centers often receive grants and funding from the government. However, Geechee Kunda is run and funded primarily by Jim and Pat’s income, volunteerism, and personal donations. This has been one of the many aspects about Geechee Kunda that makes the space open and inviting to those drawn there, but it also means that these unexpected medical expenses, in addition to the continued cost of running and maintaining the Cultural Center, have become a huge financial challenge. In order to continue operations of Geechee Kunda, they must hire people to help with everyday maintenance.

The money from this Gofundme will go to: 

Household Duties:
Washing/drying clothes
House cleaning
Grocery shopping
Walking the dogs
Landscape upkeep/Maintaining the grounds
Museum maintenance/caring for artifacts
Basic caregiving

Medical Expenses 
(that health insurance does not cover):
Chemotherapy
Radiation
Treatment visits to St. Joseph's Hospital in Savannah.

Thank you so much for taking the time to support these remarkable people and their one of a kind gathering space.  We will continue to update this page as things change and as family and community members develop a more concrete plan of care.

Check out the view clip from the Gathering from April 15, 2017:


For more information, click the links below.

New website: https://geecheekunda.wixsite.com/geechee-kunda/wa-jine-we

Older website: http://www.geecheekunda.com/home.htm

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/geechee.kunda/

This link will take you to their previous campaign for the annual Gathering with additional information. 

Thank you again and much love.

— Goddaughters of the Bacotes

*Image is from this link.

** Note: This GoFundMe campaign was created/written by not only the "organizer" according to GoFundMe but also other members of the Bacote family and community with the permission of Jim Bacote. We have absolutely no access to the funds being raised --
*All of the funds go directly to Jim Bacote.*

Please share widely and feel free to give abundantly!