JEMC Foundation announces grants totaling $46K

JEFFERSON - The Jackson EMC Foundation, a charity funded by the electric cooperative's members through their donations to the Operation Round Up program, has awarded grants totaling $46,017 to six agencies serving area residents.

*$15,000 to Camp Koinonia in Homer to provide about 70 Banks County underprivileged 3rd through 6th grade students who are referred by Family Connection and DFACS with a five-day camping experience that provides positive learning experiences to establish strong character, leadership and teambuilding skills and build personal relationships.

*$10,000 to the Gainesville/Hall County Alliance for Literacy to purchase materials and provide instructors for basic literacy classes for adults 16 and older and GED preparation classes for students who have not completed high school. The Alliance estimates that more than 29 percent of Hall County residents are not high school graduates and generally earn 35 percent less per week than graduates.

*$9,217 to Piedmont CASA, a non-profit organization that uses community volunteers to provide a voice in Juvenile Court for the best interest of abused and neglected children in Banks, Barrow and Jackson counties, to recruit and train community volunteers. In 2011, the organization served 169 children.

*$5,000 to the Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville, to enable about 40 children entering 1st-8th grades at Title I schools in Hall County to attend one-week "Folk Art Road Trip" Art Camp sessions where students will make art with a variety of materials, painting, face jugs, weaving, found object sculpture, mobiles and more.

*$3,600 to Kidstuff USA in Lawrenceville to enable youth with Autism Spectrum disorder, ages 4-22, from low-income families to attend a weeklong Art Camp with their siblings, and purchase art supplies.

*$3,200 to Friends of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens to produce calendars used as learning tools by Garden Earth Naturalist Clubs, after-school science clubs that encourage youth ages 8-10 to study and explore natural habitats.

Since the Jackson EMC Foundation began in 2005, it has funded 643 grants to organizations and 233 grants to individuals, putting more than $6.6 million back into local communities. The Operation Round Up program allows participating electric cooperative's members to have their monthly electric bills rounded up to the next dollar amount.

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/Guidelines-for-Funding.106.0.html or at local Jackson EMC offices. Applicants do not need to be a member of Jackson EMC.