Anchors Away
The passing of my father (Gerna Powe) and mother (Lucielle Powe ) were very sad moments and left me with two remaining anchors in my life.
Upon the passing of my older sister (Carol Powe Newton) who served as a substitute mother) there was only one that remained, With the passing of Reggie (my substitute father), that anchor, too, no longer exists.
However, both their legacies live on. Carol leaves behind a son (board member Derek Newton) and a daughter (board member Andi Newton) and Reggie leaves behind three sons Moki, Josh /also a board member), and Jason to continue his legacy.
While Reggie´s accomplishments have been many , I will only mention here those that have endeared him to our BLAC Foundation. Indeed, Reggie was not only a board member and Centurion but also had it not been for him the Foundation would never have come into being.
Roughly 23 years ago, I approached him with the idea of founding a Foundation to celebrate black languages , art and cultures. He thought well of the initiative and generously offered to match the $1,000 I contributed with $1,000 of his own to sere as seed money. My sister Carol (a judge and lawyer) volunteered to help us incorporate as a 501 (c ) (3) which officially came into being on January 2, 2002 with the name BLAC Foundation (Black Languages, Arts, and Culture Foundation)
Over the years Reggie continued helping the Foundation grow, especially by involving us in his Early African Presence in New York project (https://blacfoundation.org/educational-programs/) as well a the X Prize competition (https://blacfoundation.org/x-prize-news/) from which the Foundation earned 1.5% of the $1,000,000 award his company received.
Moreover, he generously hosted all of our annual face to face board meetings either in NYC or at his estate in Patterson NY.
His passing is a great loss to the Foundation and he will be sorely missed. We will be in official mourning for a full year. Your messages of condolence will be greatly appreciated.
edpowe