Non-profits serving Gainesville, Flowery Branch among latest JEMC grant recipients

JEFFERSON - The Jackson EMC Foundation Board of Directors awarded a total of $96,759 in grants during its October meeting, including $76,000 to organizations serving area residents.<br /> <br /> *$15,000 to the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center Foundation, 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 to attend interpretative, hands-on field studies and educational programs.<br /> <br /> *$15,000 to the Jackson County Certified Literate Community Program to provide a Career & Learning Center in partnership with the Jackson County Correctional Institution and the Jackson County Adult Education Center, that will reduce recidivism and allow inmates to successfully reenter the community by offering literacy, basic adult and vocational education, as well as access to social services and state/national programs necessary to offenders upon their release.<br /> <br /> *$15,000 to Viewpoint Health, a Gwinnett County agency providing support to clients with behavioral health conditions, addictive diseases and developmental disabilities, to provide uninsured and underinsured clients with primary and specialty health care by assisting with copays for office visits, lab work, and pharmacy screenings through Four Corners Primary Care.<br /> <br /> *$11,000 to Our Neighbor, a Gainesville grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to assisting young adults with special challenges, to provide developmentally disabled residents with specially tailored life skills programs, exercise programs matched to their skills and access to the Francis Meadows Aquatic Center.<br /> <br /> *$7,500 to Lekotek of Georgia, a charitable organization that provides children with disabilities with accessible play, adaptive technology and toys, information and resources, to provide additional staff and services through its Duluth and Gainesville satellite offices to serve six families currently on their waiting list.<br /> <br /> *$5,000 to Adventure Bags, an Auburn-based non-profit that sources and stuffs comfort bags that are distributed to displaced children through local DFCS offices, domestic violence shelters, fire departments, group homes and children's shelters to provide comfort and security in a crisis.<br /> <br /> *$5,000 to Easter Seals of North Georgia for its "Raising A Reader" program that distributes books to impoverished children in the Barrow, Jackson and Madison counties' Head Start/Early Head Start programs and provides parent training to engage the children in reading at home to improve kindergarten readiness.<br /> <br /> *$2,500 to the Spirit of Joy Food Pantry in Flowery Branch to purchase food for the more than 430 families they serve.<br /> <br /> The Jackson EMC Foundation has put nearly $9.2 million back into local communities since it was founded in 2005, funding 906 grants to organizations and 302 grants to individuals. Cooperative members participating in Operation Round Up have their monthly electric bills rounded up to the next dollar amount, with the "spare change" going to the Foundation.<br /> <br /> 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/foundation-guidelines or at local Jackson EMC offices. Applicants do not need to be a member of Jackson EMC.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2014/11/281553