The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded $103,750 in grants during its January meeting, including $97,000 to agencies serving area residents.
$15,000 to Gainesville Action Ministries, a network of 25 Hall County congregations that work to prevent homelessness by providing emergency financial, food and clothing assistance, and children’s services, to provide rent assistance that enables clients to stay in their homes as well as case management for those clients and financial literacy training to help them break the cycle of poverty.
$15,000 to ACTION, Inc., an Athens based organization serving Barrow, Clarke, Jackson, Madison and Oglethorpe counties, for the Full Plate Food Program, which collects surplus food donated by Athens area restaurants and redistributes it to homeless shelters and other human service agencies, and for the Opportunities Now Program, which supports students seeking to improve their lives by completing a higher level of education.
$15,000 to the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center, a multi-use science, history, culture, heritage and environmental facility located on a 700-acre campus in Buford, to allow students from low-income families in Barrow, Clarke, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties to attend interpretative, hands-on field studies and educational programs.
$15,000 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Georgia Chapter to help cover copayments for qualified blood cancer patients in the 10 counties Jackson EMC serves. The society provides copay assistance from $2,500 to $10,000 per year per patient, depending on their diagnosis, and assisted 84 patients in Jackson EMC’s service area during the first three quarters of 2016.
$15,000 to The Tree House, a children’s advocacy center working to reduce child abuse in Banks, Barrow and Jackson counties, for the Family Services Supervised Visitation Program, which provides a neutral, child-friendly environment for visits between children in foster care and their parents to enable them to maintain and enhance family bonds and provide a safe and nurturing environment for their children when reunited.
$12,000 to Mercy Health Center, an Athens ministry using a community of professional and lay volunteers to provide primary and specialty medical care, dental and pharmacy services for low income uninsured patients in Barrow, Clarke, Jackson, Madison and Oglethorpe counties, to provide “Whole Person Care” that meets patients’ physical, spiritual and emotional needs to improve health outcomes and manage resources more efficiently and effectively.
$10,000 to Angel House of Georgia, a Gainesville recovery residence for women with alcohol and/or drug addiction, to enable indigent women with no financial resources or support in Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Hall, Jackson and Madison counties to participate in the twelve-month program by covering their program fees and living expenses, offering these women a second chance at life so they can become productive members of society.
Jackson EMC Foundation grants are made possible by the more than 184,600 participating cooperative members who have their monthly electric bills rounded to the next dollar amount through the Operation Round Up program. Their “spare change” has funded 1,155 grants to organizations and 340 grants to individuals, putting more than $11.7 million back into local communities since the program began in 2005.
Any individual or charitable organization in the 10 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.
