Since 2005, the Jackson EMC Foundation has awarded hundreds of grants that have touched tens of thousands of individuals and families throughout northeast Georgia. Thanks to Jackson EMC members who round up their bill through Operation Round Up®, the Jackson EMC Foundation is able to manage and distribute funds supporting local nonprofit organizations and individuals.

The extra change collected through Operation Round Up goes a long way to help improve lives. In the past 14 years, the Jackson EMC Foundation has awarded almost $15 million in grants to improve and impact its communities, including $1,128,073 in grants in the past year.

Organizations that receive grants from the Jackson EMC Foundation use the funds to provide services that benefit communities from one end of Jackson EMC’s service area to the other — from giving hungry kids backpacks filled with food to providing eyeglasses for vision-impaired adults and children.

The Jackson EMC Foundation’s Annual Report shares more stories of how your Operation Round Up contributions are positively affecting organizations and individuals throughout northeast Georgia.

In the past year, the Jackson EMC Foundation awarded grants to organizations, including:

Friends of Disabled Adults and Children

Website: fodac.org

$15,000 to provide home medical equipment to 800 people.

Serves: Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison, and Oglethorpe counties.

In 1986, Ed and Annie Butchart started Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC) in their home garage as a community service project. Since then, FODAC has repaired and re-issued more than 40,000 wheelchairs and tens of thousands of other medical equipment items, including walkers, power lifts, scooters, hospital beds and bathroom aids. A grant from the Jackson EMC Foundation helped FODAC provide 800 mobility items to 607 people in Jackson EMC’s service area.

iServe Ministries

Website: iserveministries.org

$10,000 for Bags of Love program to provide food to families.

Serves: Jackson and Madison counties

Jeff and Sherry Grant founded iServe Ministries in 2012 with the vision to end generational poverty in the communities it serves through meeting practical needs and teaching life skills. When iServe started its Bags of Love program that year, the organization was providing seven backpacks of food delivered to students in need at one Jackson County school. Today, iServe delivers 250 backpacks to 12 schools — 10 in Jackson County and two in Madison County. Last year, the organization distributed almost 6,500 Bags of Love. A grant from the Jackson EMC Foundation means iServe can serve more families facing food insecurity. “As food prices continue to go up and the ability to serve people becomes more difficult, that money helps us provide more Bags of Love,” Grant said. “It’s a lifesaver for us.”

Winder Noon Lions Club

$5,000 to provide eyeglasses to 50 vision-impaired adults and children.

Serves: Barrow county

For generations, Lions Clubs throughout the world have made it their mission to help people preserve their sight. In Barrow County, the Winder Noon Lions Club takes this mission to heart by working to provide eyeglasses to those who are sight-impaired. The Lions Club formed a partnership with the school system, which identifies students in need of eyeglasses; in turn, the Lions Club helps provide glasses for students who can’t afford them. A grant from the Jackson EMC Foundation helps the Lions Club meet its mission to provide more children and adults with much-needed glasses.

The 2019 Jackson EMC Foundation Annual report is available at jacksonemc.com/foundation.