The above javascript is used to send anonymous usage data to Google Analytics. Operation Round Up Grants Put $181,280 in Communities - Walton EMC

Operation Round Up Grants Put $181,280 in Communities

Your Operation Round Up program has been pouring out funds to great organizations that fill vital roles in our communities. Without these groups and their work, many of our neighbors would have nowhere to turn during these trying times.

RECENT GRANTS

Adults Pushing Forward, $1,000.
Self-sufficiency education for displaced youth. Newton, Rockdale and DeKalb counties.

Angel House of Georgia, $5,100.
Assistance to women overcoming drug or alcohol addiction. All of Walton EMC territory.

Books for Keeps, $5,000.
Summer reading books for low-income students. Clarke County.

Burn Foundation of America, $7,500.
Supplies and services for burn patients. All of Walton EMC territory.

DIVAS Who Win Freedom Center, $10,000.
Intervention, education and advocacy for female survivors of addiction, prostitution and sex trafficking. Barrow, Clarke, Oconee, Walton and Rockdale counties.

Family Promise of North Fulton and DeKalb, $10,000.
Homelessness program. DeKalb County.

First Book Club 165, $7,525.
Books for low-income status elementary school. Gwinnett County.

Helping Mamas, $10,000.
Car seats and portable cribs for low-income families. Barrow, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Newton, Rockdale and Walton counties.

Hi-Hope Service Center, $10,000.
Medications/prescriptions for adults with intellectual disabilities. Gwinnett County.

Hope Haven of Northeast Georgia, $5,500.
Defibrillators for group homes housing adults with developmental disabilities. Clarke, Oconee and Walton counties.

Love.Craft Athens, $6,000.
Creativity and job skills programming for adults with developmental disabilities. Clarke, Oconee and Walton counties.

Mercy Health Center, $6,500.
Healthcare services for low-income and uninsured people. Clarke, Barrow and Oconee counties.

Monroe-Walton Center for the Arts, $9,000.
Healing Arts program. Walton County.

Prevent Child Abuse Athens, $5,000.
Parenting classes. Clarke and Oconee counties.

Skye Precious Kids, $7,200.
Medical equipment for children with life-threatening illnesses and disabilities. All of Walton EMC territory.

Walton County Master Gardeners Extension, $5,500.
Greenhouse. Walton County.

Words of Comfort Ministries, Inc., $8,400.
Tutoring for foster children. Gwinnett County.

The board approved assistance to two families totaling $14,955.

Funds from the Walton EMC unclaimed capital credits account provided:

Faith in Serving Humanity (FISH), American Red Cross of Northeast Georgia, Atlanta Community Food Bank and StreetWise Atlanta, $52,500.
Emergency food, shelter and medical needs.

Fostering Futures

Walton EMC’s Operation Round Up (ORU) program presented Lydia’s Place with a $5,000 donation to help serve young adults who have experienced foster care or homelessness. Pictured left to right, Savannah Chandler, Walton EMC; Debbie Fowler, ORU board member; Kelly Brannen, Lydia’s Place executive director and Henry Hibbs, ORU board member.

Each year, more than 400 children “age out” of foster care in Georgia. One in five of them will be homeless after age 18. Seventy-one percent of the women will be pregnant by age 21. Sixty percent of the men will have spent time in jail by age 24. Lydia’s Place, a recent Operation Round Up grant recipient, is working to turn the tide on these grim statistics — one student at a time.

The Watkinsville nonprofit serves students age 17-24 who have experienced foster care or homelessness. It provides housing, utilities and counseling to young adults while they pursue higher education.

The program houses 20 students at a time. While attending school and holding down a job, each participates in a mandatory two-year curriculum to learn independent living skills such as financial management, conflict resolution and basic housekeeping.

The $5,000 ORU grant will help Lydia’s Place care for one student for five months, said Kelly Brannen, executive director. “It costs about $12,000 a year — about $1,000 each month —for each student to go through our program. This gives them a warm, safe place to live and counseling, so these students can leave us to go on to a better life.”

“Our goal is to launch them into adulthood,” she said, sharing numerous success stories that prove the program works.

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