The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total $90,815 in grants during its October meeting, including $45,000 to agencies serving Hall County residents.

• $15,000 to Support Adoption & Foster Families Together, a nonprofit serving abused and neglected children in Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson and Lumpkin counties through its Family Life Center in Gainesville, to provide access to five months of supervised visitation, case management, parenting training and coaching to four families in crisis who are currently on a waiting list.

• $15,000 to Rainbow Village, a Duluth long-term, transformational housing program that provides fully furnished apartments and comprehensive support for homeless families with children in North Metro Atlanta, to help provide rent for its early childhood development center facility.

• $15,000 to the Georgia Mountains YMCA in Gainesville to help underprivileged elementary school children attend the Kids Time Afterschool Program, which provides a safe environment with homework assistance, enrichment activities, relationship building, sports, games and arts and crafts on-site at Hall County and Gainesville elementary schools.

Jackson EMC Foundation grants are made possible by the more than 183,200 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 1,130 grants to organizations and 338 grants to individuals, putting nearly $11.5 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.