The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total of $81,572 in grants during the board’s February meeting, including $41,237 to agencies serving Hall County residents.

• $9,604 to Gwinnett Special Forces, a community-based volunteer organization accredited under Special Olympics of Georgia that provides adults with intellectual and development disabilities in Barrow, Gwinnett and Hall counties the opportunity to play sports with a goal of promoting personal growth and athletic development, to purchase necessary equipment and uniforms.

• $8,000 to the Gainesville/Hall County ’96 Roundtable, a nonprofit organization formed to oversee operations and programs at the Lake Lanier Olympic Park for rowing, canoeing and kayaking, to purchase automated external defibrillators for the venue’s boathouse and Olympic timing tower that will provide emergency medical treatment in cases of cardiac arrest.

• $7,633 to the Choices Pregnancy Center in Gainesville to purchase parenting videos, literature and incentive baby items for its My Baby Counts program, which provides crucial parenting skills to pregnant women and new parents in Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties, and to conduct middle and high school sexual integrity programs in Gainesville City and Hall County schools.

• $7,500 to Judy House, a faith-based transition home for homeless men who have been incarcerated or under community supervision in Barrow, Gwinnett and Hall counties, to provide necessary personal expenses, transportation, food, household supplies and rent while they seek jobs and reconnect with their families and the community.

• $5,000 to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America to help 13 children from Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties attend Camp Oasis, a six-day camping experience at Winder’s Camp Will-A-Way, that takes campers’ physical and social needs into consideration, provides dietary and medical support, and allows campers to interact with other children who face the same challenges of Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis.

• $3,500 to Guest House, a Gainesville nonprofit senior day care center serving Banks, Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson and Lumpkin counties that offers therapeutic activities, socialization and professional medical services to frail seniors and those suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia in the safest, most affordable and loving environment possible, to fund an art therapy program that can help enhance communication, brain function and social interaction in dementia patients.

Jackson EMC Foundation grants are made possible by the more than 184,700 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 1,165 grants to organizations and 342 grants to individuals, putting nearly $11.8 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.