JEFFERSON - The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total $110,500 in grants during its February meeting, including $96,000 to organizations serving area residents.
*$15,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Jackson County to help purchase a 15-passenger van to provide safe, dependable transportation for the more than 250 club members to the club after school as well as to summer program field trips and activities.
*$15,000 to Center Point, a Gainesville non-profit which mentors at-risk young people in Gainesville City and Hall County schools, to provide free and low-cost counseling to youth and their families who could not otherwise participate in therapy.
*$15,000 to the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia in Athens for its monthly Mobile Pantry Program, which distributes large quantities of food before its expiration date through partner agencies in seven counties served by Jackson EMC, eliminating the need for the agencies to store the food and allowing the Food Bank to distribute thousands of pounds of food to those in need at a fraction of the cost.
*$15,000 to the YMCA Piedmont Brad Akins Branch for its Summer Day Camp to enable 16 children and 14 teens from economically disadvantaged families to attend an 11-week day camp that provides a safe environment and nurturing quality programs for youths that might otherwise be "latchkey" kids during their schools' summer break.
*$10,000 to the Ark of Jackson County, a community outreach effort by area churches that assists individuals who have experienced a loss of income due to circumstances beyond their control, to help fund emergency housing assistance for rent or mortgage, and prescription medicine assistance.
*$10,000 to L.A.M.P. Ministries in Gainesville for its Community Youth Outreach program, three-month sessions that combine group counseling and community activities to provide high risk youths in Hall and Jackson counties with a positive alternative to gangs and other delinquent behavior.
*$10,000 to Teen Pregnancy Prevention in Gainesville to help fund the "Smart Girls" program in Hall County and Gainesville City high schools that offers guidance and support through weekly sessions to provide girls with the knowledge, skills, self-esteem and self-confidence they need to make healthy decisions about sexual activity and dating relationships.
*$3,500 to Good Samaritan Ministries, a Gainesville non-profit that provides food, clothing, furniture, job counseling and education assistance to those in need in Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson and Lumpkin counties, to purchase food and personal hygiene items.
*$2,500 to the Gainesville/Hall Community Food Pantry to purchase food from the Atlanta Community Food Bank and the Georgia Mountain Food Bank for distribution to those in need in Hall County.
The Jackson EMC Foundation is funded by Operation Round Up, which rounds up the monthly electric bills of participating cooperative members to the next dollar amount. This "spare change" has funded 947 grants to organizations and 308 grants to individuals, putting nearly $9.6 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.
Wednesday
July 2nd, 2025
11:25PM
