Jackson EMC Foundation 2014 Annual Report: Turning Small Change Into Life Change

COVERING THE BASICS ANNUAL REPORT 2014

presidents’ message

Turning Small Change into Life Change

J

ackson EMC members who contribute pennies through

help, supports groups that feed the hungry, house the homeless,

Operation Round Up® can take satisfaction in knowing

educate the young, provide medical services for the sick and

that the small amount of change they give each month

boost job skills of the under- or unemployed. Individuals in

brings about worthwhile and positive change throughout our

need are helped with immediate needs, such as repairing an air

communities.

conditioner so children can stay cool in summer or making car

Organized in 2005, the Jackson EMC Foundation oversees

repairs so a parent can get to work to support his family.

our Operation Round Up program, where monthly power bills

Any individual or organization in any of the 10 counties served

of participating members are rounded up to the next dollar

by Jackson EMC may apply for a Jackson EMC Foundation

with the extra change providing grants to charitable organiza-

grant, even if you’re not a member of the electric cooperative.

tions and individuals in need. Almost 90 percent of Jackson

Grants are typically limited to $15,000 for organizations and

EMC members take part in this philanthropic program, and a

$3,500 for individuals.

volunteer board of directors administers the funds.

While the Foundation board has funded a wide variety of

On average, each participating Jackson EMC member

grant requests, they focus on basic human needs—shelter, food,

contributes about $6 per year to Operation Round Up. By

medical care and education or skills development—that will

giving this small change—roughly the cost of a fast-food meal—

enable those having difficulties making ends meet to become

our members join together to create change that constructively

self-sufficient.

impacts the lives of our neighbors. Each month, an average of

Read the stories that follow to learn just a few of the ways

$85,300 in grants is distributed; in the past nine years, our

this small change makes big life change possible.

members have contributed approximately $9 million to positively impact individuals and strengthen our communities.

Foundation grants help charitable organizations cover the basic needs of our area’s less fortunate. At a time when other program funding has been cut and local and state governments have reduced services, the Jackson EMC Foundation, with your

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Chip Jakins

Beauty Baldwin

Jackson EMC President/CEO

Jackson EMC Foundation Chair

Athens Area Homeless Shelter www.helpathenshomeless.org

Going Home Helps Homeless Families Set Up Housekeeping

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ot so long ago, Angela, an Athens mom of two

When the summer was over, the kids returned to school

teenagers, earned about $1,200 per week as a

and rejoined their mom who was living with friends, “but

freelance medical transcriptionist. With an average

sometimes the men there smoked and drank, so we’d stay in

typing speed of 90 words per minute, she had no problem

my car,” Angela recalls.

securing good-paying jobs that helped her support her son’s

The nightmare ended last October when, thanks to assis-

musical ambitions and football talent and her daughter’s

tance from Athens Area Homeless Shelter, Angela and her

education and extracurricular activities.

children moved into an apartment of their own. “We’d been

In the past few years, though, as effects of the recession

sleeping on the floor of other people’s houses and in the car,”

linger and her industry evolves, Angela has found it more

says the thankful mom. “And now we have a home.”

difficult to find jobs. In 2010, one of the companies she worked

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness,

with downsized its staff; about the same time, the $850 a

families with children are the nation’s largest and quickest

month child support she’d been routinely receiving stopped

growing group of homeless. At the Athens Area Homeless

coming. It was the beginning of financial insecurity that

Shelter, the majority of clients are single mothers with children,

eventually would leave Angela homeless.

according to Executive Director Shea Post who says that while

As bills mounted, the single mom thought of a solution to

many are served at the shelter, the organization’s largest

the problem: she and her kids would move in with another

program is Going Home, which moves families into apartments

single mom and her children and, as the families shared

of their own.

expenses, her bills would be reduced, enabling her to save for a home of their own. But things didn’t work out as planned. “I was giving her money to pay the bills, and she wasn’t paying the bills,” Angela recalls. “I bought a used car, and then the

“

Through our Going Home program,

engine blew up.”

we help them move into an apartment

The domino-effect led her to take drastic measures in the summer of 2013. She spent what little money she had to put

and help pay rent the first months to

her family’s belongings in storage, sent her son to live with his

give them time to start saving as they

dad for the summer, sent her daughter to live with her sister until school started, and moved in with a friend. “I had a job at WalMart and I was constantly looking for more transcription

gradually take more responsibility until they are fully independent.

work,” she says. “But emotionally and mentally, I was losing it because I was away from the most important people in my

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life—my kids.”

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“These are people without a home, usually due to a job loss, some sort of family catastrophe or a series of events that’s led them to being unable to pay rent,” says Post.

Items in Going Home Kits turn an empty apartment into

“Through our Going Home program, we help them move into

a furnished home and give families a launching pad from

an apartment and help pay rent the first months to give them

which they can rebuild their lives.

time to start saving as they gradually take more responsibility until they are fully independent.”

Going Home Kits are a new and essential part of the pro-

A year since moving into her new apartment, Angela now feels a sense of calm and wellbeing. She has steady work with a transcription company. Child support is sporadic and her

gram, added thanks to seed money from a $5,290 Jackson

car has been in the repair shop, but she’s baking and selling

EMC Foundation grant. The kits supply basic household

cakes to make ends meet. Compared to where she was just

necessities to establish families in apartments; in Andrea’s

more than a year ago, her home is her castle.

case, the kit contained a kitchen table, beds and dressers for the children and household cleaning supplies.

“When we have a family moving into an apartment,

“That experience took everything out of me, out of the kids,” she says. “You feel like you’ve failed your children…I’m not an alcoholic or addicted to drugs, I don’t have health

they’ve been in a crisis and have usually lost most of their

problems and my kids are healthy. I’m basically a normal

possessions,” says Julianne Geddis, coordinator of the Going

person; there are no programs for people like us.”

Home Program. “If families have to spend their money on

Fortunately, there’s Athens Area Homeless Shelter which,

furnishings and basic items, they fall behind on catching up

with help from the Jackson EMC Foundation, provided the

and just assume more debt.”

basics Angela and her children needed to reboot. Now her daughter, who wants to be a teacher, is taking classes at Athens Tech, and her son is excelling on his high school’s football team.

Athens Area Homeless Shelter employees like Julianne Geddis, right, help heads of household, like Angela, transition from the despair of homelessness to the stability that comes with having a home of your own.

“My children are my world,” Angela concludes.

Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta www.bgcma.org

Improving Opportunities for the Future with Homework Help Today

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t the Boys & Girls Club in Lawrenceville, Executive

Yocelinn Pavez, a Gwinnett Technical College student

Director Rory Johnson mentors high school

seeking to become an entrepreneur, was a member of the

students he knew as first graders.

Boys & Girls Club before graduating from high school two

“It’s a priceless perspective,” says Johnson. “I’ve seen

years ago.

them grow and cross hurdles.”

One hurdle for students in grades 1-12 served at area

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Boys & Girls Clubs is homework. For many working parents who pick up their children from the club in the late afternoon, there’s little time to help with homework after getting home,

We get too many

cooking supper and preparing for the next day. That’s where the Afterschool Homework Help program steps in.

The Jackson EMC Foundation this year granted $15,000

smiling faces and loving hearts

for the Homework Help program, which utilizes staff members

to get down, and that’s

and volunteers to assist club members with homework and provide specialized tutoring.

what keeps us going.

“The staff tailors each child’s homework help time to address areas where children need extra help and communi-

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cates their progress with parents and teachers,” say Johnson.

“The goal is academic success.”

Students from area colleges volunteer as homework helpers in the afterschool Power Hour, the name given to the

“Now I work at the club, helping kids at the Learning

homework portion of the program which runs from the time

Center with their homework or helping them study for a

buses drop students off at the facility until 5 p.m. The

quiz,” says Pavez. “It helps them to do their homework and

following hour is devoted to more in-depth tutoring,

then have time to play here and time to spend with family at

according to Johnson.

home.”

“After homework is done, we drill down a little deeper,”

When club members register at the beginning of each

he says, noting that the tutor-to-student ratio is no more than

year, staff reviews their report cards from the previous year

one-to-two. About 40 college students volunteer as tutors,

to determine whether or not and where extra help is needed,

providing 40-60 youngsters with specialized assistance

according to Johnson. It’s a helpful tool to assess needs,

based on their individual needs.

especially when it comes to teenaged students.

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Yocelinn Pavez, right, tutors Boys & Girls Club members every weekday afternoon.

“Teens usually don’t tell you anything until the hut’s on fire,” says Johnson.

“There has to be a four-alarm fire until they tell you they need help. We keep up with these kids and encourage them to ask for help.”

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their homework

“Despite the barriers,” says Johnson, “we have guided, nurtured and encouraged thousands of young people who have gone on to achieve success in college, work and life. We promise our

and then have time

them safe and off the streets, but by change their lives.”

between family and school,” says Johnson. “We support what the school the gap at home by providing snacks that help kids focus and do homework.”

to play here and time to spend with family at home.

kids a great future by not only keeping giving them opportunities that can

“This program bridges the gap

does by giving extra help, and we bridge

third of youth from low-income families fail to earn a high school diploma.

changer.

It helps them to do

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly a

Help with homework may not sound glamorous, but it can be a life-

Working with youngsters keeps Johnson and his staff upbeat.

“We get too many smiling faces and loving hearts to get down, and that’s what keeps us going,” he says. “I look at these children and don’t focus on where they are but on where they’re going to

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be.”

Good News Clinics www.goodnewsclinics.org

Good News Clinics Keeps Family Healthy, Hopeful

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hen Brian, 52, first visited Good News Clinics in Gainesville, he was searching for help with acquiring life-sustaining medication. Six years

later, the diabetes patient attributes life itself to his community’s free clinic.

“The insulin I take costs $1,600 a month, but I can’t work because of all my medical issues,” says Brian. “I’d be dead if it weren’t for the Good News Clinics helping me.

If not for them, I don’t know how I’d survive.”

A self-employed commercial construction contractor until diabetes took hold in 2008, Brian takes five insulin shots daily. The Flowery Branch resident also suffers with hypertension, osteoarthritis, progressive degenerative disc disease and sleep apnea.

When speaking of his own medical issues, the patient is stoic. But when conversation turns to his wife, Sheila, tears well up in the tender brown eyes of this gentle man.

“Sheila was diagnosed here with breast cancer two years ago and is now a cancer survivor,” he says. “I still have my wife because of this clinic.”

Nurse Practitioner Leigh Anne Day visits with Good News Clinics patient Brian.

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Addressing the needs of underserved and uninsured residents of Hall County, Good News Clinics provides free medication and medical, dental and eye care to patients. The clinic is equipped with nine medical exam rooms, four dental exam rooms, an ophthalmology room and pharmacy. Nurse practitioners, medical assistants and dental assistants on staff tend to patients, along with 40 medical doctors and 39 dentists who volunteer their services. In addition, the clinic operates Health Access, a network of 240 healthcare specialists who provide free care in their fields, such as orthopedics, surgery, pulmonary, etc. There’s an onsite pharmacy and a patient education classroom for smoking cessation and other wellness courses. All services are free.

Last year, Good News Clinics treated patients in 11,000 medical visits and 7,000 dental visits and dispensed more than $6 million in medications, according to Development Director Mary Baxter. To assist in carrying out their mission, the Jackson EMC Foundation this year granted $15,000 to replace inefficient and outdated computers as the clinic transitions to an electronic medical records system.

Good News Clinics receives no government funding, operating solely through support and funding from organizations like the Jackson EMC Foundation. Their biggest challenge in recent months stems from the misconception that because of healthcare reform their services are no longer needed, according to Baxter. “There’s still a need for free clinics because there are still many people not covered under the Affordable Care Act,” she says.

Brian gets emotional when speaking of Good News Clinics.

“Any help this facility can get goes to the good,” he says.

“They want to help everyone they can, and that’s how I feel

Third year pharmacy student Cailyn Worley prepares prescriptions for clients at Good News Clinics.

every time I walk through the door—like I’m welcome.”

The clinic operates Health Access, a network of 240 healthcare specialists who provide free care in their fields, such as orthopedics, surgery, pulmonary, etc. There’s an onsite pharmacy and a patient education classroom. All services are free.

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Gwinnett Tech Foundation www.gwinnetttech.edu/foundation

Nontraditional Students Move Forward with Accelerating Opportunities

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f predictions hold true, according to Stephanie Rooks, dean of Adult Education at Gwinnett Technical College (GTC), 60 percent of all jobs will require at least an

associate’s degree by the year 2020.

“A lot of programs target youth here in Gwinnett County,” says Rooks, “but the 25- to 44-year-old age bracket is our largest group without GEDs.” To close the gap, GTC’s Adult Education Department offers the Accelerating Opportunity program, which pairs Adult Basic Education or English as Second Language teachers with technical education instructors in the classroom to help nontraditional students progress faster and more confidently as they work toward certificates, diplomas and/or degrees.

“When you team a college professor with a college level technical instructor, there’s nothing like it,” says Rooks.

“Students will be more successful.”

The Gwinnett Tech staff works to put students like Alexa, second from right, on the right career pathway. Assisting the student are, from left, Jennifer Hendrickson, director of Institutional Advancement; Stephanie Rooks, dean of Adult Education; and Perry Roberts, executive director of Gwinnett Tech Foundation.

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Dean of Adult Education Stephanie Rooks, left, consults with Alexa on courses to best prepare her for a career in medicine.

The program has been a godsend for Alexa. A pre-DMS (diagnostic medical sonography) student, she moved with her family from Nicaragua to America almost 20 years ago and has lived in the Atlanta area since 2007. She first enrolled at GTC to learn English and eventually earned her GED. “My dream was always to have a career, but I was terrified to study here because of the language,” says Alexa. “My teachers pushed me, though, and when I heard about the Accelerating Opportunity program it was like my dream came true.”

Accelerating Opportunity takes students beyond the GED by placing them on a career pathway, according to Rooks. A full-time student and the mother of two school-age children, Alexa is on the business administrative technology pathway with a medical concentration; she earned her medical billing certificate in May. “I always wanted to be a doctor, but it’s a challenge for me because I struggle with the language,” says Alexa. “But I’m not saying no to my dream. Once I achieve my degree here, I may feel more confident to go to medical school.”

The college’s Adult Education Department currently serves about 3,660 students in 11 GTC locations across Gwinnett County, according to Rooks. The Jackson EMC

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Foundation this year granted $15,000 to the Gwinnett Tech Foundation to use for the college’s Accelerating Opportunities program.

A lot of programs target youth

“This grant helps second chance students to not just obtain their GED but go on to college and move forward

here in Gwinnett County, but

from there into a career,” says Jennifer Hendrickson, director

the 25- to 44-year-old age

share at the GED graduation each September will move you

of Institutional Advancement. “The stories these students to tears. Many are the first in their family to graduate high

bracket is our largest group

school, then college.”

without GEDs.

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At the affiliate’s eleventh home, Jackson County Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Paul Brown, center, takes a break from building a tool shed with help from the children, l-r, Shikeem, Shivade, Shicuria and Shaquita.

Jackson County Habitat for Humanity www.jacksoncountyhabitat.homestead.com

Building Homes, Community and Hope

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year after moving into a home of their own,

been living with his mother in Statham but sought a home of

Desmond and his four children have settled into

his own for his children. “It’s not crowded like it used to be,

their new neighborhood in Jefferson where his

and the food doesn’t go as fast as it used to,” says his older

children attend Jackson County schools. Employed by Dayton

daughter, 14-year-old Shaquita. “There’s more privacy for us,

Superior concrete company in Braselton, the single dad had

and for Dad, too.”

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Shaquita and her 13-year-old sister Shicuria, along with their brothers, Shikeem, 15, and Shivade, 10, moved into their

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new house in June 2013; theirs was the 11th house constructed

by Jackson County Habitat for Humanity. The same month, a groundbreaking ceremony was held next door on what would

Having a home builds

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become Habitat’s 12 house. The kids helped work on both houses, hammering nails while getting to know their neighbors.

“Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build

stabilization in the family while helping resolve other issues.

homes, community and hope,” says Paul Brown, the Jackson

”

County affiliate’s executive director. “Having a home builds stabilization in the family while helping resolve other issues like safety, education and job security.”

Since incorporated in 1998, Jackson County Habitat for

Along with building homes, the organization builds up homeowners by providing affordable mortgages, energy

Humanity has built one new house approximately every 18

efficient construction and classes in budgeting and home

months until last year, when they built two houses, according

maintenance. So that homeowners are fully vested, they must

to Brown, whose goal is for the affiliate to build five houses each

assist in their home’s construction, a requirement embraced

year by 2017. Habitat depends on individual and organizational

by Shaquita and her siblings.

donations like those from the Jackson EMC Foundation,

“We helped build the house and learned the basics of

which provided a $10,000 grant last year for plumbing,

building, from start to finish,” she says. “To be helped by

electrical equipment, HVAC and cabinets for the local Habitat’s

others feels great.”

11th house.

“In recent years, donations have suffered a gradual decline, but Jackson EMC has been consistent,” says Brown.

“Our relationship with the Jackson EMC Foundation has

So great, in fact, that she envisions volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in the future.

“I’d like to do for others what they did for me,” the teenager concludes.

been long-running. Without them, we would only have built about half as many houses as we have.” (The affiliate’s fifth house was a joint project of Jackson EMC and Progress Energy of Raleigh, N.C., which paid for and constructed the house in 2004.)

Cooking’s a breeze in the new Habitat for Humanity kitchen of, from left, Shaquita, Shicuria, Shivade and Shikeem.

St. Vincent de Paul Societies www.svdpatl.org

Meeting Basic Needs, One Home Visit at a Time

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olunteers with area St. Vincent de Paul Society

Catholic lay people established the St. Vincent de Paul

conferences witness homelessness and hunger on

Society in France in 1833 to aid the poor and introduced the

a routine basis, a bleak picture not always evident

organization to the United States in 1845. Today, the interna-

until you’re in the trenches, helping those in desperate

tional Society consists of almost a million volunteers who

situations.

provide monetary aid to millions more in 135 nations; locally,

“You start to notice there are a lot of people in need,” says

individual conferences of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul

Bernie Governale, a volunteer with the conference at Prince

Georgia provide support tailored to meet the needs of individuals

of Peace. “We don’t see it so much in our families or circle of

and families throughout their communities.

friends, but when you get out in the public, it’s there.”

One component of care provided by Societies of St. Vincent de Paul is distribution of food through local food pantries. Vincentians packing food here are, from left, Barbara Deedy and Margaret Baudet of the Catholic Church of St. Monica; Jan Martin of St. Michael Catholic Church; Roger Darr of St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church; Michael Gallagher of Prince of Peace Catholic Church and Joanne Capies of St. Michael Catholic Church.

“We seek to help families move from poverty to self-sufficiency by providing targeted short-term aid aimed at providing a bridge of charity when it is needed the most,” says Gallagher, recalling a family last year who’d been living in their car at a local racetrack. “He’d had a good job installing hardwood floors but then had medical problems with his knees and lost his job; when their unemployment expired, they lost everything.”

The Society funded the family a week’s stay at a local hotel, according to Gallagher. Joanne Capies, president of the St. Michael conference, relates a similar story.

“My husband and I visited a grandmother raising four grandchildren and due to be evicted,” says Capies. “We took them food and clothes and paid their rent. She told us our Bernie Governale, left, and Michael Gallagher, right, meet with a man in need during a home visit. Governale and Gallagher are members of the St. Vincent de Paul Conference at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Flowery Branch.

support and the kindness of the Jackson EMC Foundation helped her when she felt alone, scared and helpless.”

Whereas calls to the St. Vincent de Paul Society at the Catholic Church of St. Monica in Duluth once averaged 40-50 per week, the need pushed calls to 40-50 per day at the height of the Great Recession, according to Baudet. The local

In the past year, the Jackson EMC Foundation granted $10,000 to each of four conferences at Catholic churches

Society leaders say the calls have leveled off somewhat with

within its service area, including:

an average of 25-30 calls received daily.

The Societies raise funds in various ways, including

• Prince of Peace Catholic Church Conference,

church collections and food drives; the conference at St.

Flowery Branch • Saint Michael Catholic Church Conference, Gainesville

Monica runs the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store in Buford

• St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church Conference,

with profits going back into the program.

“The needs of the community continue to far exceed the

Jefferson • The Catholic Church of St. Monica Conference, Duluth

financial ability of the Society,” says Capies. Grants from the

The groups use the donated funds to provide direct aid for

Jackson EMC Foundation help fill the gap.

“Because of the grant we received last year, we were able

families in need of rental or mortgage assistance, temporary housing, transportation, food, medical assistance and similar

to assist an additional 64 families with minor children,” says

concerns, even funeral expenses.

Baudet. “Before, we were turning people away.”

Most heartwarming to Vincentians is when the help given

Society members, called Vincentians, go in pairs to conduct home visits where they identify specific needs and customize

by the Society is paid forward. Each group shares stories of

a support plan. “By visiting the home of a person or family in

those they’ve helped who repaid the good deed by donating

need and attempting to see the big picture, we are better able

to the conference after they got back on their feet. A simple

to determine how the Society might best offer assistance,”

thank you is equally appreciated, such as that which came

says Margaret Baudet, grant writer for the St. Monica

from a family assisted by the conference at Saint Michael in

conference.

Gainesville.

“When the mother got sick, this family had left good pay-

Assistance to pay for rent, utilities (which Jackson EMC Foundation grants do not cover) and medical expenses are the

ing jobs out-of-state to move close to relatives in Hall County,

most common, according to Michael Gallagher, co-president

but they were amazed when they couldn’t find jobs in Georgia,”

at Prince of Peace, who estimates their conference assists

says Jan Martin, vice president at Saint Michael. “When we

about 230 families annually.

visited them they were just beginning new jobs but needed help to catch up on their rent. They were so grateful that they made us a poster.”

The stenciled letters on green poster paper proclaimed with joy: “Bless you all for your help. St. Vincent de Paul ROCKS!”

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Community Food Pantries

Feeding Families to Meet the Most Basic Need of All

Members of Banks County Middle School’s Interact Club meet before classes start each Thursday morning to pack food for the Food2Kids Backpack Program. Helping out are, from left, Ben Duckett, Ashlyn Payne, Faith Hubbard, Zeke Brown, Caden Cotton, Kennedy Smith, Kaleigh Finch and Austin Hensley.

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here’s one thing that volunteers who help area families

• iServe Ministries in Jefferson

agree on: there is real need in our communities.

• Jefferson First Baptist Food Pantry in Jefferson

And the most basic of all is food.

• Nothing but the Truth in Dacula

In the past year, the Jackson EMC Foundation granted

• Pantry at Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church

$2,500 to each of eight area food pantries and similar

in Dacula

organizations, including:

• Rotary Club of Banks County in Homer

• Cross Pointe Church CarePointe Food Pantry in Duluth

• Spirit of Joy Food Bank in Flowery Branch

• Gainesville/Hall Community Food Pantry in Gainesville

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For a bird’s eye view of the need, visit Cross Pointe Church in Duluth when the monthly mobile food pantry distributes food to about 300 families on a Saturday morning.

Distribution doesn’t begin until 10 a.m., but families start lining up by 8 a.m., according to Linda Mann, director of the church’s CarePointe Community Ministries, which oversees the food pantry program.

“More than one in four children in Georgia struggle with hunger and, in Gwinnett County, 14 percent of residents live in poverty,” says Mann. “The need for life’s essentials continues to balloon. Lack of full time work, fewer job opportunities, unemployment running out, food stamp cutbacks and healthcare are some of the reasons these numbers will

The CarePointe Food Pantry at Cross Pointe Church has distributed more than 1 million pounds of food and personal care products to families in Gwinnett and nearby counties.

continue to increase.”

Established in 2008, the CarePointe Food Pantry at Cross Pointe Church opens three times a week, on Wednesday and Saturday mornings and on Wednesday evening; about 850

to school Monday morning, some of these children may not

families receive food each month. In 2013, CarePointe

know if or how much they’ll get to eat.”

School counselors work with teachers to identify children

distributed 279,986 pounds of food during 7,198 family visits

in need, according to Holly Koochel, Banks County Middle

to the pickup point at the church, according to Mann.

School social worker. “Hunger interferes with learning,” she

“Some families are chronically poor and come to the food

says. “We don’t want to see any child hungry.”

pantry every month for assistance,” she notes. “Often they are

With Food2Kids, students get nutritious, easy-to-prepare

unemployed or underemployed and they just don’t have

meals over the weekend. Last year, the Backpack Program

enough money. Some get food stamps, but it’s still not enough.”

provided weekend food for about 60 children in Banks

One Saturday each month, instead of the routine food pickup, CarePointe conducts the mobile food pantry. While

County schools; this year, the Rotary Club hopes to help 75

documentation is normally requested to receive assistance,

children, according to Todd Hubbard, Rotary Club president

on these Saturdays, all families receive an average of 50-70

and Jackson EMC metering supervisor.

pounds of free food, no documentation required.

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“We think if they come and stand in line for one to two hours, there’s need,” says Mann. “We try to stress independence, but we realize there are some people in situations they are

A lot of these kids wouldn’t eat over the

not likely to get out of, especially disabled people living on SSI or older retired people with fixed incomes.”

weekend if it wasn’t for this program.

Local food pantries partner with area food banks to

”

secure food for distribution. For example, CarePointe works with the Atlanta Community Food Bank while the Rotary Club

“A lot of these kids wouldn’t eat over the weekend if it

of Banks County partners with the Food Bank of Northeast

wasn’t for this program,” says Hubbard, adding that by

Georgia for its Food2Kids Backpack Program. The backpack program enlists help from Interact Club members at Banks

helping their fellow students, members of the Interact Club

County Middle School to pack food in bags sent home with

personify the Rotary motto: Service Above Self.

“Packing these bags is important because some people

needy students each Friday afternoon to ensure they receive

don’t have food on the weekend,” says Rip Sanders, Banks

adequate nourishment over the weekend.

County Middle School eighth grader and Interact Club

“School isn’t just a place for learning,” says Sallie Hensley,

president. “It feels good to know we’re helping them.”

Rotary sponsor of the Interact Club. “For some of our most impoverished kids, it’s also the only reliable source of food.

The sad truth is that from Friday afternoon until they return

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Individuals in Need

A Longtime Co-op Member Receives Help

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hen Linda realized her Hall County neighbor, Lois, was in dire need of home repairs, she requested a grant from Jackson EMC. Exhibit-

ing the same neighborliness that Linda displayed to Lois, Jackson EMC granted Lois $3,350 to make repairs and replace flooring in her bedroom and bathroom.

Linda feared that her friend, 72 and disabled, would fall through the floor that was rotting due to a leaky shower.

“The leak in her bathroom had caused a big hole in the floor and there was a very high risk of her falling,” says Linda. “And she didn’t have the funds to fix it on her own.”

Lois lives in Clermont, in a family home where her aunt and uncle once lived. The home, built in 1950, is filled with memories and memorabilia, like the black and white photo, framed and hung in her living room, of her deceased husband, Herman, tall and handsome in his deputy sheriff’s

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uniform.

Herman made a good living for his family by working in law enforcement for three decades, with the Game and Fish

I just thank God the Jackson EMC

Department, Corrections and the sheriff’s department. Lois

Foundation is there to help.

worked, too, at local industries. Since her husband died 15 years ago, it’s become tougher to make ends meet. Lois lives

”

on a fixed income, dependent on Social Security.

“I have a hard time making my money last ’til the end of the month,” she says. “If you’re not careful, you won’t have

“I appreciate the Jackson EMC Foundation for fixing that

anything to eat in your house. I have Medicare, but it’s not as

hole,” says Lois. “I’ve been a Jackson EMC member as long as

good as it used to be. I tried to get the insurance company to

I can remember and really don’t know what I would have done

fix the hole here, but they said it didn’t fall under the policy.”

without the Foundation’s help. I think it’s awful good of them,

The Foundation grant paid for floor repairs that shored up

and I know everybody that gets help from them appreciates it.

the area around Lois’ shower, making her home safe again –

I just thank God the Jackson EMC Foundation is there to

and attractive with new flooring in the bedroom and bathroom.

help.”

16

jackson emc foundation, inc.

Statements of Activities for the years ended May 31

2014

2013

$1,061,456

$1,039,204

275

314

1,061,731

1,039,518

974,538

962,800

72,974

70,508

1,047,512

1,033,308

Increase in Unrestricted Net Assets

14,219

6,210

Unrestricted Net Assets, Beginning

284,005

277,795

$298,224

$284,005

Support Contributions Interest

Program Service Expenses Community Assistance Family and Individual Assistance

Unrestricted Net Assets, Ending

17

jackson emc foundation, inc.

Schedule of Community Assistance for the Year ended May 31, 2014 Action Ministries

$

7,500

American Red Cross - East GA Chapter

10,000

American Red Cross - Northeast Georgia Chapter

10,000

Annandale at Suwanee, Inc.

15,000

Area Committee to Improve Opportunities

5,700

Ark of Jackson County

12,500

Athens Area Homeless Shelter

5,290

Athens Community Council on Aging

5,000

Athens Nurses Clinic

15,000

Banks County Literacy Council

15,000

Barrow County 4-H

6,000

Books for Keeps, Inc.

2,500

Boys Scouts of NEGA

5,000

Boys & Girls Clubs of Hall County

10,000

Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta

15,000

Camp Koinonia

15,000

Camp Kudzu

5,000

Camp Twin Lakes, Inc.

10,000

CASA - Piedmont, Inc.

9,000

Challenged Child & Friends, Inc.

15,000

Citizen Advocacy Athens-Clarke, Inc.

5,500

Cooperative Ministry - Lawrenceville

15,000

Cooperative Ministry - Lilburn

7,500

Cooperative Ministry - Norcross

10,000

Creative Enterprises

10,750

Cross Pointe Food Pantry

2,500

DAV - Chapter 92

2,500

Eagle Ranch, Inc.

9,000

Exodus Outreach, Inc.

15,000

Extra Special People, Inc.

13,500

Families of Children Under Stress

5,000

Family Connection - Lumpkin County

6,100

Family Promise of Gwinnett County, Inc.

10,000

Family Promise of Hall County, Inc.

6,025

Fellowship of Christian Athletes

5,000

Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, Inc.

15,000

Foster Siblings Reunited

2,000

Fragile Kids Foundation

10,500

Gainesville Jaycees Vocational Rehabilitation Center

12,500

Gainesville/Hall Community Food Pantry

2,500

Balance-Carried Forward

$ 359,365

18

jackson emc foundation, inc.

Schedule of Community Assistance for the Year ended May 31, 2014 Balance-Brought Forward

$ 359,365

Gateway House

10,200

Georgia Children’s Chorus

10,000

Georgia Community Support & Solutions

5,000

Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation, Inc.

10,000

Good News Clinics

15,000

Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett

7,880

Gwinnett Community Clinics, Inc.

10,000

Gwinnett County Public Library

6,000

Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center

10,000

Gwinnett Hospital System Foundation

14,941

Gwinnett Student Leadership Team

15,000

Gwinnett Tech Foundation

15,000

Habitat for Humanity - Gwinnett

14,752

Habitat for Humanity - Jackson County

10,000

Hall County Library Center

6,800

Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church

2,500

Hi-Hope Service Center

15,000

HOPE, Inc.

2,500

I Am, Inc.

11,500

iServe Ministries

2,500

Jackson County 4-H Club

6,000

Jackson County Arts Council

1,000

Jefferson First Baptist Church Food Pantry

2,500

L.A.M.P. Ministries

10,000

Lanier Technical College Foundation

10,000

Lekotek of Georgia

5,000

Lindsay’s Legacy

15,000

Medical Center Foundation

11,000

Meet the Need Ministry, Inc.

14,400

Mentor Program - Clarke County

5,000

Newtown Florist Club

5,000

Next Stop Foundation

8,000

NOA’s Ark, Inc.

4,500

Nothing but the Truth, Inc.

2,500

Nuci’s Space

4,000

Our Neighbor, Inc.

15,000

Partnership Against Domestic Violence

7,500

Balance-Carried Forward

$ 680,338

19

jackson emc foundation, inc.

Schedule of Community Assistance for the Year ended May 31, 2014 Balance-Brought Forward

$ 680,338

Piedmont Regional Library System

15,000

Pilot Club of Winder

6,000

Place of Seven Springs

10,000

Potter’s House

8,000

Project ADAM Community Assistance

15,000

Project Safe, Inc.

7,500

Quilts for Kids - NEGA Chapter

5,000

Quinlan Arts, Inc.

5,000

Rainbow Children’s Home, Inc.

7,000

Rainbow Village, Inc.

15,000

Reins of Life, Inc.

2,000

Rotary Club of Banks County

2,500

Rotary Club of Gainesville

5,000

Safe Kids - Athens Area

2,500

Salvation Army of Athens

15,000

Salvation Army of Gainesville

15,000

Salvation Army of Lawrenceville

15,000

Senior Center - Madison County

7,500

Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse

5,000

Special Olympics - Barrow County

4,200

Spectrum Autism Support Group

10,000

Spirit of Joy Christian Church

2,500

St. Vincent De Paul Society - Duluth

10,000

St. Vincent De Paul Society - Flowery Branch

10,000

St. Vincent De Paul Society - Gainesville

10,000

St. Vincent De Paul Society - Jackson County

10,000

Step by Step Recovery

10,000

Teen Pregnancy Prevention, Inc.

15,000

Tiny Stitches, Inc.

15,000

Urban Ministry - Gainesville First United Methodist Church

2,500

YMCA - Athens

10,000

YMCA - Winder Barrow Brad Akins

15,000

YWCO of Athens

7,000 $ 974,538

jackson emc foundation, inc.

Family and Individual Assistance for the Year ended May 31, 2014

20

$ 72,974