The Jackson EMC Foundation Board of Directors awarded a total of $100,921 in grants during their January meeting, including $87,500 to organizations and $13,421 to individuals.

Organizational Grant Recipients:

$10,000 to Colbert Lions Club to help renovate the old Colbert School, creating a community center that could be used by all local organizations and residents. The area has no community meeting space outside of local churches, and the school building has been vacant for 20 years.

$10,000 to help fund counseling and psychological outreach services for the Good News Clinic, Gainesville, using Brenau University student counselors. The program, an extension of a service currently offered on the Brenau campus would provide individual, couples and family counseling to low-income residents who are already seeking medical, dental and pharmaceutical services at the clinic.

$15,000 to Dream House for Medically Fragile Children in Lawrenceville to help fund Family for Keeps, a program begun in 2005 that provides support, education and skills for those who provide care to children relying on life support, medication, therapies or equipment to live. Skills training are available to foster parents, family members, teachers, Sunday school teachers and others who care for special needs children.

$15,000 to the Gwinnett County Association for Retarded Citizens in Lawrenceville to help construct a new, completely accessible group home that will provide four developmentally disabled adults the opportunity to live an independent life. This will be the Association’s fourth group home built in Gwinnett County.

$15,000 to Jackson Creative Community Resource Center in Commerce to help purchase a mini-van that will be used to transport clients to various community activities and jobs. The mini-van will replace an aging vehicle and allow the center to continue integrating developmentally disabled adults into the community and providing them with life-skill training.

$15,000 to NOA’s Ark (No One Alone) in Dahlonega to help provide counseling services to victims of domestic violence. The agency provides a safe shelter for women and their children, along with advocacy and support services in a caring, nurturing environment to assure the victim’s safety, enhance children’s self-esteem and promote the positive parent-child relationship that helps keep families together.

$7,500 to the St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Matthew’s Church in Winder to help provide needy individuals and families with food, prescription medication and rent assistance. The volunteer organization is funded through parishioners’ monthly donations, and serves a growing client base in Barrow and Jackson counties, along with a portion of Gwinnett County.

$3,365 to provide needed oral surgery and dentures for an elderly man who lives alone on a fixed income.

$2,500 to help purchase adaptive computer and software technology for a visually impaired student so that she can continue her education and remain independent.

$3,300 for the installation of a heating and air conditioning unit in the home of a single mother.

$756 to repay a promissory note for a disabled woman.

$3,500 to make repairs to the leaking roof of an older manufactured home for a disabled woman.