COVERING THE BASICS - Jackson EMC · the Afterschool Homework Help program steps in. The Jackson EMC Foundation this year granted $15,000 for the Homework Help program, which utilizes

COVERING THE BASICSANNUAL REPORT 2014

presidents’ message

Turning Small Change into Life Change

ackson EMC members who contribute pennies through

Operation Round Up® can take satisfaction in knowing

that the small amount of change they give each month

brings about worthwhile and positive change throughout our

communities.

Organized in 2005, the Jackson EMC Foundation oversees

our Operation Round Up program, where monthly power bills

of participating members are rounded up to the next dollar

with the extra change providing grants to charitable organiza-

tions and individuals in need. Almost 90 percent of Jackson

EMC members take part in this philanthropic program, and a

volunteer board of directors administers the funds.

On average, each participating Jackson EMC member

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

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

our members join together to create change that constructively

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

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

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

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

educate the young, provide medical services for the sick and

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

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

conditioner so children can stay cool in summer or making car

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

Any individual or organization in any of the 10 counties served

by Jackson EMC may apply for a Jackson EMC Foundation

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

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

$3,500 for individuals.

While the Foundation board has funded a wide variety of

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

medical care and education or skills development—that will

enable those having difficulties making ends meet to become

self-sufficient.

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

this small change makes big life change possible.

Chip JakinsJackson EMC President/CEO

Beauty BaldwinJackson EMC Foundation Chair

J

01

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

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

freelance medical transcriptionist. With an average

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

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

musical ambitions and football talent and her daughter’s

education and extracurricular activities.

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

linger and her industry evolves, Angela has found it more

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

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

month child support she’d been routinely receiving stopped

coming. It was the beginning of financial insecurity that

eventually would leave Angela homeless.

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

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

single mom and her children and, as the families shared

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

engine blew up.”

The domino-effect led her to take drastic measures in the

summer of 2013. She spent what little money she had to put

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

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

work,” she says. “But emotionally and mentally, I was losing it

because I was away from the most important people in my

life—my kids.”

When the summer was over, the kids returned to school

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

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

my car,” Angela recalls.

The nightmare ended last October when, thanks to assis-

tance from Athens Area Homeless Shelter, Angela and her

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

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

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

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness,

families with children are the nation’s largest and quickest

growing group of homeless. At the Athens Area Homeless

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

according to Executive Director Shea Post who says that while

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

program is Going Home, which moves families into apartments

of their own.

N

“”

Through our Going Home program,

we help them move into an apartment

and help pay rent the first months to

give them time to start saving as they

gradually take more responsibility

until they are fully independent.

Going Home Helps HomelessFamilies Set Up Housekeeping

Athens Area Homeless Shelterwww.helpathenshomeless.org

02

“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.

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

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

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-

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

EMC Foundation grant. The kits supply basic household

necessities to establish families in apartments; in Andrea’s

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,

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

possessions,” says Julianne Geddis, coordinator of the Going

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

furnishings and basic items, they fall behind on catching up

and just assume more debt.”

Items in Going Home Kits turn an empty apartment into

a furnished home and give families a launching pad from

which they can rebuild their lives.

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

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

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

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

“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

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

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

Fortunately, there’s Athens Area Homeless Shelter which,

with help from the Jackson EMC Foundation, provided the

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.

“My children are my world,” Angela concludes.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.

t the Boys & Girls Club in Lawrenceville, Executive

Director Rory Johnson mentors high school

students he knew as first graders.

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

them grow and cross hurdles.”

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

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,

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

for the Homework Help program, which utilizes staff members

and volunteers to assist club members with homework and

provide specialized tutoring.

“The staff tailors each child’s homework help time to

address areas where children need extra help and communi-

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

homework portion of the program which runs from the time

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

following hour is devoted to more in-depth tutoring,

according to Johnson.

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

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

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

providing 40-60 youngsters with specialized assistance

based on their individual needs.

Yocelinn Pavez, a Gwinnett Technical College student

seeking to become an entrepreneur, was a member of the

Boys & Girls Club before graduating from high school two

years ago.

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

Center with their homework or helping them study for a

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

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

home.”

When club members register at the beginning of each

year, staff reviews their report cards from the previous year

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

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

especially when it comes to teenaged students.

A

“”

We get too many

smiling faces and loving hearts

to get down, and that’s

what keeps us going.

Improving Opportunities for the Futurewith Homework Help Today

Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlantawww.bgcma.org

04

05

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.”

According to the U.S. Department

of Health and Human Services, nearly a

third of youth from low-income families

fail to earn a high school diploma.

“Despite the barriers,” says Johnson,

“we have guided, nurtured and encour-

aged thousands of young people who

have gone on to achieve success in

college, work and life. We promise our

kids a great future by not only keeping

them safe and off the streets, but by

giving them opportunities that can

change their lives.”

It helps them to do

their homework

and then have time

to play here and

time to spend with

family at home.

Help with homework may not

sound glamorous, but it can be a life-

changer.

“This program bridges the gap

between family and school,” says

Johnson. “We support what the school

does by giving extra help, and we bridge

the gap at home by providing snacks

that help kids focus and do homework.”

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

be.”

“

”

Good News Clinicswww.goodnewsclinics.org

06

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.”

W

Good News Clinics KeepsFamily Healthy, Hopeful

Nurse Practitioner Leigh Anne Day visits

with Good News Clinics patient Brian.

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 special-

ists 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 organiza-

tions 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

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

07

Third year pharmacy student Cailyn Worley prepares

prescriptions for clients at Good News Clinics.

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.

Gwinnett Tech Foundationwww.gwinnetttech.edu/foundation

08

Nontraditional Students Move Forward with Accelerating Opportunities

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.”

I

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.

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

Foundation this year granted $15,000 to the Gwinnett Tech

Foundation to use for the college’s Accelerating Opportunities

program.

“This grant helps second chance students to not just

obtain their GED but go on to college and move forward

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

of Institutional Advancement. “The stories these students

share at the GED graduation each September will move you

to tears. Many are the first in their family to graduate high

school, then college.”

“

”

A lot of programs target youth

here in Gwinnett County, but

the 25- to 44-year-old age

bracket is our largest group

without GEDs.

09

Dean of Adult Education Stephanie Rooks, left,

consults with Alexa on courses to best prepare her

for a career in medicine.

year after moving into a home of their own,

Desmond and his four children have settled into

their new neighborhood in Jefferson where his

children attend Jackson County schools. Employed by Dayton

Superior concrete company in Braselton, the single dad had

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

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

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

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

and for Dad, too.”

A

Building Homes, Community and Hope

Jackson County Habitat for Humanitywww.jacksoncountyhabitat.homestead.com

10

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.

Shaquita and her 13-year-old sister Shicuria, along with

their brothers, Shikeem, 15, and Shivade, 10, moved into their

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

become Habitat’s 12th house. The kids helped work on both

houses, hammering nails while getting to know their neighbors.

“Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build

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

Humanity has built one new house approximately every 18

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

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

year by 2017. Habitat depends on individual and organizational

donations like those from the Jackson EMC Foundation,

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

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

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

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 En-

ergy of Raleigh, N.C., which paid for and constructed the

house in 2004.)

Along with building homes, the organization builds up

homeowners by providing affordable mortgages, energy

efficient construction and classes in budgeting and home

maintenance. So that homeowners are fully vested, they must

assist in their home’s construction, a requirement embraced

by Shaquita and her siblings.

“We helped build the house and learned the basics of

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

others feels great.”

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.

Cooking’s a breeze in the new Habitat for Humanity kitchen of,

from left, Shaquita, Shicuria, Shivade and Shikeem.

“”

Having a home builds

stabilization in the family while

helping resolve other issues.

Meeting Basic Needs, One Home Visit at a Time

St. Vincent de Paul Societieswww.svdpatl.org

olunteers with area St. Vincent de Paul Society

conferences witness homelessness and hunger on

a routine basis, a bleak picture not always evident

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

situations.

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

Bernie Governale, a volunteer with the conference at Prince

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

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

Catholic lay people established the St. Vincent de Paul

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

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

tional Society consists of almost a million volunteers who

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

individual conferences of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul

Georgia provide support tailored to meet the needs of individuals

and families throughout their communities.

V

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.

In the past year, the Jackson EMC Foundation granted

$10,000 to each of four conferences at Catholic churches

within its service area, including:

• Prince of Peace Catholic Church Conference,

Flowery Branch

• Saint Michael Catholic Church Conference, Gainesville

• St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church Conference,

Jefferson

• The Catholic Church of St. Monica Conference, Duluth

The groups use the donated funds to provide direct aid for

families in need of rental or mortgage assistance, temporary

housing, transportation, food, medical assistance and similar

concerns, even funeral expenses.

Society members, called Vincentians, go in pairs to conduct

home visits where they identify specific needs and customize

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

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

to determine how the Society might best offer assistance,”

says Margaret Baudet, grant writer for the St. Monica

conference.

Assistance to pay for rent, utilities (which Jackson EMC

Foundation grants do not cover) and medical expenses are the

most common, according to Michael Gallagher, co-president

at Prince of Peace, who estimates their conference assists

about 230 families annually.

“We seek to help families move from poverty to self-suffi-

ciency by providing targeted short-term aid aimed at provid-

ing 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

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

Society leaders say the calls have leveled off somewhat with

an average of 25-30 calls received daily.

The Societies raise funds in various ways, including

church collections and food drives; the conference at St.

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

with profits going back into the program.

“The needs of the community continue to far exceed the

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

Jackson EMC Foundation help fill the gap.

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

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

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

Most heartwarming to Vincentians is when the help given

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

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

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

thank you is equally appreciated, such as that which came

from a family assisted by the conference at Saint Michael in

Gainesville.

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

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

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

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

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!”

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.

13

Feeding Families to Meet the Most Basic Need of All

Community Food Pantries

14

here’s one thing that volunteers who help area families

agree on: there is real need in our communities.

And the most basic of all is food.

In the past year, the Jackson EMC Foundation granted

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

organizations, including:

• Cross Pointe Church CarePointe Food Pantry in Duluth

• Gainesville/Hall Community Food Pantry in Gainesville

• iServe Ministries in Jefferson

• Jefferson First Baptist Food Pantry in Jefferson

• Nothing but the Truth in Dacula

• Pantry at Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church

in Dacula

• Rotary Club of Banks County in Homer

• Spirit of Joy Food Bank in Flowery Branch

T

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.

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

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

families receive food each month. In 2013, CarePointe

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

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

“Some families are chronically poor and come to the food

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

unemployed or underemployed and they just don’t have

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

One Saturday each month, instead of the routine food

pickup, CarePointe conducts the mobile food pantry. While

documentation is normally requested to receive assistance,

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

pounds of free food, no documentation required.

“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

not likely to get out of, especially disabled people living on

SSI or older retired people with fixed incomes.”

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

of Banks County partners with the Food Bank of Northeast

Georgia for its Food2Kids Backpack Program. The backpack

program enlists help from Interact Club members at Banks

County Middle School to pack food in bags sent home with

needy students each Friday afternoon to ensure they receive

adequate nourishment over the weekend.

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

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

to school Monday morning, some of these children may not

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

School counselors work with teachers to identify children

in need, according to Holly Koochel, Banks County Middle

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

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

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

meals over the weekend. Last year, the Backpack Program

provided weekend food for about 60 children in Banks

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

children, according to Todd Hubbard, Rotary Club president

and Jackson EMC metering supervisor.

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

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

helping their fellow students, members of the Interact Club

personify the Rotary motto: Service Above Self.

“Packing these bags is important because some people

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

County Middle School eighth grader and Interact Club

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

15

“”

A lot of these kids wouldn’t eat over the

weekend if it wasn’t for this program.

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.

16

Individuals in Need

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

uniform.

Herman made a good living for his family by working in

law enforcement for three decades, with the Game and Fish

Department, Corrections and the sheriff’s department. Lois

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

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

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

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

The Foundation grant paid for floor repairs that shored up

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

and attractive with new flooring in the bedroom and bathroom.

W

“”

I just thank God the Jackson EMC

Foundation is there to help.

“I appreciate the Jackson EMC Foundation for fixing that

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

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

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

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

I just thank God the Jackson EMC Foundation is there to

help.”

A Longtime Co-op Member Receives Help

17

jackson emc foundation, inc.Statements of Activities for the years ended May 31

2014 2013

Support

Contributions $1,061,456 $1,039,204

Interest 275 314

1,061,731 1,039,518

Program Service Expenses

Community Assistance 974,538 962,800

Family and Individual Assistance 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

Unrestricted Net Assets, Ending $298,224 $284,005

jackson emc foundation, inc.Schedule of Community Assistancefor 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 Assistancefor 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 Assistancefor the Year ended May 31, 2014

20

jackson emc foundation, inc.

Family and Individual Assistance for the Year ended May 31, 2014 $ 72,974

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