Jackson EMC Foundation grant will fund

Tiny Stitches layette donations

Tiny Stitches, Inc., a Suwanee-based volunteer organization, has been awarded a $15,000 grant by the Jackson EMC Foundation.

Through a network of more than 200 volunteers, the organization makes tote bags which are filled with 35 hand-made layette items each.   The totes are then distributed through social workers and nurses in hospitals, health departments and other facilities in a nine-county area to mothers who have little or nothing for their newborns.  Serving Dawson, Fannin, Gilmer, Gwinnett, Hall, Habersham, Lumpkin, Pickens and Union counties, Tiny Stitches delivered 616 layettes in 2006 and expects to exceed that number in 2007. Grant funds will be used to purchase supplies to make the totes and layettes, and for additional storage for the materials and finished layettes.

Foundation grants are funded through the Operation Round Up program, to which 90 percent of Jackson EMC’s members contribute.  Participating members’ monthly electric bills are rounded up to the next dollar amount, an average of $6 per year.   Since the beginning of the program in 2005, more than $1.93 million has been awarded by the Jackson EMC Foundation since 2005, including 160 grants to organizations and 75 grants to individuals.

Jackson EMC Foundation grants assist charitable and community organizations, as well as individuals.  Any individual or organization in the counties served by Jackson EMC – Athens/Clarke, Banks, Barrow, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison and Oglethorpe counties – may apply for a Foundation grant.  Those seeking funding must complete a grant application, available at local Jackson EMC offices or as an interactive .pdf form at http://www.jacksonemc.com/Guidelines-for-Funding.106.0.htm