The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total $98,910 in grants to organizations during their November meeting, including $54,000 to agencies serving residents of Hall and Lumpkin counties. $15,000 to the Gwinnett Children’s Shelter, which serves Barrow, Clarke, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties to provide 60 homeless children and their mothers with The Next Step program, which provides a 3-month to 12-month transitional living experience where children can regain a sense of security and mothers can work with a life coach to develop a customized plan to help them achieve financial security and permanent housing to prevent future homelessness. $15,000 to the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center Foundation, a multi-use science, history, culture, heritage and environmental facility on a 700-acre campus in Buford, to allow students from low-income families to attend interpretative, hands-on field studies and educational programs. $12,000 to St. Vincent de Paul Society Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Flowery Branch for its Aid Hot Line program, which provides emergency aid to families in crisis for rent, mortgage and temporary housing to prevent homelessness and disrupted lives. $12,000 to St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Michael in Gainesville to help fund direct aid for housing assistance, including rent, mortgage and temporary housing for families in crisis, as well as to purchase an industrial-quality freezer to support their food distribution program. The Jackson EMC Foundation is funded by Operation Round Up, which rounds up the more than 180,000 participating cooperative members’ monthly electric bills to the next dollar amount. This “spare change” has funded 1,030 grants to organizations and 321 grants to individuals, putting more than $10.3 million back into local communities since the program began in 2005.