The Jackson EMC Foundation Board of Directors awarded more than $89,000 in grants at its July meeting, including $42,500 in awards to organizations that serve Hall County.
The money for the grants comes from the 197,016 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 1,555 grants to organizations and 388 grants to individuals, putting more than $15.8 million back into local communities since the program began in 2005.
The July 2020 grants included:
- $15,000 to Children’s Center for Hope and Healing, in Gainesville, to provide children in Barrow, Banks, Hall, Jackson and Lumpkin counties who have been sexually abused with therapy to reduce trauma symptoms such as nightmares, bed wetting, anxiousness, depression, anger, fatigue and self-hatred, and to decrease their families’ sense of isolation, strengthen the family, assist with parent-child attachment and family functioning.
- $10,000 to United Methodist Children’s Home of North Georgia (Wellroot Family Services), in Gainesville, which provides financial assistance for foster care development, training, recruitment and community building throughout Jackson EMC’s service area, to help close the gap between the need in Northeast Georgia and the number of available homes.
- $10,000 to YMCA of Georgia’s Piedmont, Inc., in Winder, for its Pryme Tyme program providing homework help, sports, arts and crafts to children from economically disadvantaged families in Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties.
- $7,500 to Bethel Haven, in Watkinsville, to support mental health services and therapeutic counseling sessions for distressed children, teens, adults and families in Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Madison, and Oglethorpe counties.
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 https://www.jacksonemc.com/foundation-apply or at local Jackson EMC offices. Applicants do not need to be a member of Jackson EMC.
