‘Operation Round Up’ grants awarded

Signs & Wonders, Inc. in Lawrenceville was awarded a $10,000 grant to help purchase food and a van to serve homeless residents of the Quinn House, substance abuse program participants and area seniors.

In 2009, the Quinn House provided 43,800 in-house meals to program residents and homeless, served 460 families through its food pantries and distributed 1,795 boxes of food to senior citizens in Gwinnett, Hall, Barrow and Walton counties. Since 1986, the Quinn House has sheltered Gwinnett’s homeless. Signs & Wonders now includes a men’s shelter, a women’s shelter, a licensed food bank and a senior food box program. The organization’s community outreach programs also provide clothing, furniture and respond to other needs at no charge.

An infant car seat safety program offered to parents of newborns who cannot afford one by the Gwinnett Hospital System Foundation has been awarded a $7,000 grant.

Car crashes are the number one killer of young children in Georgia, and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety recommends infants be placed in a vehicle’s back seat in a rear-facing child safety seat.

Between 10-12 babies are born each month at the Gwinnett Medical Center whose parents cannot afford an approved child safety seat and are provided one at no charge when the baby goes home.

In addition, Gwinnett Medical Center provides reduced price car seats to community members meeting established financial criteria who attend a car seat safety class.

Jackson EMC members fund foundation grants by having their monthly electric bills rounded up to the next dollar amount through the Operation Round Up program. Since October 2005, the “spare change” has funded more than 430 grants to organizations and more than 160 grants to individuals, putting more than $4.6 million back into local communities.

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/Guidelinesfor- Funding.106.0.html or at local Jackson EMC offices. Applicants do not need to be a member of Jackson EMC.