JEFFERSON - The Jackson EMC Foundation Board of Directors awarded a total of $80,000 in grants during its July meeting, including $62,500 to organizations serving northeast Georgia residents:<br />
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*$15,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Barrow County in Winder for its Power Hour comprehensive homework help and tutoring program, and Goals for Graduation, a program that combats academic underachievement and links further aspirations with concrete actions today.<br />
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*$15,000 to Hi-Hope Service Center in Lawrenceville to help fund part-time nursing services for 20 developmentally disabled residents in Gwinnett County, providing services such as daily medication, insulin, blood checks and specialized medical treatment to an increasing number of residents who require onsite nursing care.<br />
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*$10,000 to Hope Clinic, a primary care internal medicine clinic founded to provide the uninsured working poor with affordable care, to help purchase an electrocardiogram and Spot Vital Sign equipment for its Chronic Care Management Program that treats patients with multiple chronic conditions.<br />
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*$10,000 to the Vision and Hearing Care Program, a service of the Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation, to help provide surgical procedures to restore sight, eye exams, and prescription eyewear for low-income residents in the 10 counties Jackson EMC serves, using Lighthouse medical equipment, volunteer doctors, staff and volunteers.<br />
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*$7,500 to the Asian American Resource Foundation, a Gwinnett non-profit which provides supportive services to members of the community in need, for its Transitional Housing Program that provides homeless single mothers and their children with up to 24 months of housing assistance and support services to transition them to permanent housing.<br />
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*$5,000 to the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative, a Grayson non-profit that assists local families with food and financial support in their time of need, to help purchase a commercial refrigeration unit that will enable the cooperative to better use its supply chain of fresh produce.<br />
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The Jackson EMC Foundation has put nearly $8.9 million back into local communities since it was founded in 2005, funding 876 grants to organizations and 295 grants to individuals. Cooperative members participating in Operation Round Up have their monthly electric bills rounded up to the next dollar amount, with the "spare change" going to the Foundation. <br />
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Any individual or charitable organization in the ten counties served by Jackson EMC (Clarke, Banks, Barrow, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison and Oglethorpe) may apply for a Foundation grant by completing an application, available online at http://www.jacksonemc.com/foundation-guidelines or at local Jackson EMC offices. Applicants do not need to be a member of Jackson EMC.<br />
