JEMC Foundation awards more than $66K in grants

JEFFERSON - The Jackson EMC (JEMC) Foundation Board of Directors recently awarded $66,380 in grants, including $55,880 to organizations and $10,500 to individuals.

Organizational Grant Recipients:

$5,000 to the Girls Leadership Summer Program in Gainesville, an intensive six-week course for girls ages 13-17 that establishes mentoring relationships between the girls and women in the minority community, develops leadership and collaboration skills, and promotes the development of new leaders in the community.

$15,000 to the Piedmont Regional Library System to purchase current non-fiction children's books on animals, plants, environment & conservation, space, oceanography, countries, states, biographies, mathematics and health for system libraries in Banks, Barrow and Jackson counties..

$8,000 to Next Stop, a Lawrenceville grassroots organization that provides social interaction, recreational and life skill learning opportunities to young adults with mild to moderate disabilities, for a kitchen education program that teaches practical life skills.

$7,880 to Good Samaritan Health Center in Lawrenceville, to upgrade older computers and laptops, along with associated software, to gain the highest level of performance from the Center's Electronic Health Record initiative, which ended the center's reliance on paper health records.

$7,500 to the Lilburn Cooperative Ministry to provide 30 needy families with
$250 assistance for rent or mortgage payments annually, helping them to avoid foreclosure or eviction.

$7,500 to the Partnership Against Domestic Violence in Gwinnett County to help fund the Children in Shelter program, a service provided at the domestic violence shelter that allows children and teens to improve self-esteem, modify inappropriate behavior, build skills for safety, resolve conflicts without violence and focus on healthy play.

$5,000 to Lekotek of Georgia, a charitable organization that provides children with disabilities with accessible play, adaptive technology and toys, information and resources, to provide staff and services through its Duluth satellite office.

Individual Grant Recipients:

$3,500 to repair the roof at the home of a senior citizen.

$3,500 to purchase adaptive technology for a visually disabled woman.

$3,500 to repair the roof at the home of a disabled woman.