The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total $98,877 in grants to organizations during their July meeting, including $82,500 to organizations serving Hall County.
- $15,000 to Center Point Georgia to offer the Smart Girls program that builds character skills to help girls make healthy choices, to students in Gainesville and Hall County schools.
- $15,000 to Good News Clinics, a nonprofit organization that provides free medical and dental care to the underserved and uninsured residents of Gainesville and Hall County, to ensure clients of its Sam Poole Medical Clinic have laboratory tests necessary for physicians to determine their health care needs and provide them with appropriate care.
- $15,000 to Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett, which provides quality, affordable and accessible healthcare and dental services to the poor and uninsured in Barrow, Clarke, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties, to support the Women’s Health Advantage Program covering the costs of mammograms for 176 women.
- $15,000 to SISU (formerly Challenged Child & Friends), a Gainesville non-profit organization providing educational, therapeutic, nursing and family support services to children with disabilities in Banks, Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson and Lumpkin counties, to support the Early Intervention Program that provides special needs children with classroom instruction, individualized therapy and nursing services.
- $10,000 to Tiny Stitches Inc. in Suwanee, which uses a network of volunteers to make handmade tote bags filled with a 35-piece layette that will keep an infant warm and dry for the first three months of life, donated to mothers in Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties who have little or nothing for their newborns.
- $7,500 to Bridging the Gap of Georgia, which serves veterans across the Jackson EMC service area impacted by post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, combat stress and/or homelessness, to help with renovation costs for a donated Oakwood home that will support the Veteran Life Community Program.
- $5,000 to For Her Glory, a Gainesville agency that provides breast cancer patients in Banks, Barrow, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson and Lumpkin counties with items that are not covered by insurance, such as wigs, bras, compression sleeves and gloves.
Jackson EMC Foundation grants are made possible by the more than 185,638 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 1,224 grants to organizations and 348 grants to individuals, putting more than $12.4 million back into local communities since the program began in 2005.
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.