The Board of Directors of the St. Marys Methodist Church Foundation, Inc. has approved grants for the Fall 2024 Grant Cycle. Grants totaling $795,476 will be made to 10 organizations the week of December 2, 2024. The following is a brief description of each recipient and the purpose of the grant.
Organizations Serving Southeast Georgia:
A $17,138 partial challenge grant to Action Pact, Inc. to support the Southeast Georgia CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) program. CASA offers the unique service of recruiting, training, and supporting community volunteers who have the time to give each foster child the individual attention that social workers and attorneys often do not have. Volunteer Advocates can help to promote services for the child’s physical, medical, emotional, and educational well-being and serve as a catalyst in the court system to ensure that the child is moved out of temporary care and into a safe and permanent home as quickly as possible. This grant will be used to promote volunteer recruitment in the rural areas of Brantley and Charlton Counties and to provide advocacy services to the child victims of abuse and neglect who are in the foster care system.
A $50,000 challenge grant to The Gathering Place (The GP) to support the summer college internship program. The GP’s mission is “to reach students with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, equip them to be effective Christian leaders, and send them to impact their local schools, churches, and communities.” The GP’s Summer College Internship is an experience that engages college students and recent college graduates in personal development programming and service activities throughout the summer months. The Internship is designed to strengthen their relationships with Christ while developing the intern’s individual leadership capacity as they serve Southeast Georgia through a variety of outreach and mentorship initiatives.
A $28,338 challenge grant representing the third year of a three-year commitment to Golden Isles Veterans Village, Inc. (GIVV) to support the salary and benefits of their executive director. Serving Southeast Georgia, the mission of GIVV is to provide a supportive community of tiny homes and a community center where 30 homeless veterans can reside while receiving the medical, physical, and emotional support needed to heal; and to provide veterans with education and job training opportunities so they may ultimately move forward to permanent housing and employment of their choice. This is a transitional housing community that gives a hand up, not a handout, to those who have served us.
A $50,000 challenge grant to Grace House of Brunswick, Inc. for general operating expenses. Grace House, located in Brunswick Georgia, is a long-term residential recovery home for women recovering from drug and alcohol addictions. Grace House exists to provide women, regardless of their socio-economic situation, an opportunity to seek recovery from their addiction to drugs and alcohol through the teachings of Jesus Christ and his reconciling love for all.
A $150,000 three-year partial challenge grant to expand the ACCELER8 Non-Profit program. This grant represents the first year of a three-year partnership between The Lucas Center for Entrepreneurship and The St. Marys Methodist Church Foundation. This partnership will support the expansion of the ACCELER8 NP program in Glynn County and into Camden County. ACCELER8 NP is a free, 8-week course for nonprofit executives and board chairs to build organizational effectiveness with lessons on goal setting, communication strategies, marketing, financial management and budgeting, strategic planning, board development, and fundraising. The Lucas Center believes that entrepreneurship is a vehicle for economic empowerment, transforming families and communities by breaking cycles of poverty, creating value, and solving community challenges.
A $75,000 challenge grant to Morningstar Children and Family Services, Inc. for operational support of the Glynn County facility. Morningstar, located in Brunswick, serves children throughout Georgia with developmental disabilities and children who are unable to function in a foster home environment and who need the structure of an on-campus program. Morningstar provides three primary services: residential care, mental health care, and therapeutic foster care services.
A $75,000 challenge grant to Safe Harbor Center to support program expansion and general operating expenses for the Children’s Advocacy Center in Glynn and Camden Counties. Safe Harbor is guided by their mission statement to provide services that promote security and stability for at risk families, children, and individuals. Shelter and therapeutic services are provided to children who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected; who are homeless or have run away from home; or who are otherwise at risk or feel threatened. They provide an array of life-changing services in Camden and Glynn Counties, including residential facilities, drop-in centers, outreach programs, children’s advocacy, family preservation, and parenting education.
A $50,000 challenge grant to the STAR Foundation of Coastal Georgia to support expansion into Camden County as well as program support for the Employment Readiness Programs, the Senior Computer Literacy Workshops, and the Financial Literacy Classes. STAR Foundation of Coastal Georgia, Inc strives to educate and empower individuals in Glynn and Camden County from low-income areas with the foundational skills needed to thrive personally and professionally. For over twenty-five years, STAR has worked to provide employment success through classroom and one-on-one instruction in the focus areas of computer instruction, financial literacy, employment and education readiness, and workplace skills. They provide their students with the skills, support, and self-confidence needed to begin their journey toward self-sufficiency.
Organizations Related to Methodism:
A $100,000 grant to The Methodist Home for Children and Youth for capital-related improvements to their various campuses (St. Marys, Macon, Columbus, Americus, and Valdosta). The Methodist Home is a faith-based organization working to better equip at-risk youth and families for the future. They provide care for children and families in need across South Georgia including continuum care (Children’s Homes), community foster homes, specialized treatment programs, and counseling services to better serve the communities.
Christian Organizations Working Internationally:
A $200,000 grant was approved to support the Journey to Sustainability Project in Nicaragua. This grant represents the third year of a four-year partnership between Partners Worldwide and the St. Marys Methodist Church Foundation. Partners Worldwide aspires to end poverty so that all may have life and have it abundantly. They achieve this by mobilizing long-term, hands-on global relationships, forming a powerful Christian network that uses business to create flourishing economic environments around the world. PW currently partners with over 70 Local Community Institutions (LCIs), in 35 countries, each rooted in communities facing poverty and high unemployment. The LCI partners work with Partners Worldwide to implement the shared vision to end poverty by focusing on four strategic activities: Business Training, Mentoring, Access to Capital, and Advocacy.
Asociación Pueblos en Accion Comunitaria (APAC) (https://apac.org.ni/ ) is a Nicaraguan organization established in 1996. Since 2014, APAC has become one of Partners Worldwide’s most impactful LCIs in Nicaragua. APAC’s mission is to transform the reality of unemployment and poverty that prevails in Nicaragua’s rural areas by implementing socioeconomic development models based on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and business training.
Additional information about the St. Marys Methodist Church Foundation, Inc. is available by calling 912-510-9350.
The Board of Directors of the St. Marys Methodist Church Foundation, Inc. has approved grants for the Spring 2024 Grant Cycle. Grants totaling $575,726.00 will be made to ten organizations the week of June 3, 2024. The following is a brief description of each recipient and the purpose of the grant.
Organizations Serving Southeast Georgia:
A $50,000 challenge grant to provide program support for “Family-Match” in coastal and southeast Georgia. Adoption-Share was established in 2010 to reform the private adoption arena and change public perception of adoption with a pro-adoption message. They seek to remove barriers that prevent families from adopting children and expectant parents from considering adoption for their unborn children. Adoption-Share does this by providing “Family-Match,” an online, web-based platform that centralizes information distribution and connects various resources and contacts for those involved in the adoption process. Adoption-Share has been proven to decrease the average wait for many adoptive parents by 18 months. Their application to help families to foster or adopt a child is flipping the script on the way placement decisions are made in the United States.
A $47,458 partial challenge grant to Camden Community Family Center, Inc., (CCFC) to provide general operating support. CCFC provides a safe, child-friendly environment for supervised visitation for children in foster care and other court ordered child parent visitations. CCFC works as a resource to Camden County DFCS and with families whose children are victims of domestic violence, neglect, physical abuse, and/or sexual abuse.
A $30,025 grant to CASA Glynn, Inc. to fund direct program expenses. CASA Glynn provides advocacy services for abused and neglected children in Glynn and Camden Counties who are at risk and placed in foster care. Advocacy services are provided through trained volunteers who are appointed by the Juvenile Court to represent the child until the child is placed in a permanent and safe home. The CASA advocate brings an objective voice and remains a consistent figure that networks with other service providers and caseworkers in focusing on a better future for the families and children they serve.
A $50,000 challenge grant to Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation (CCGF) to support general operating expenses. Established in 2005, the core mission of CCGF is to increase philanthropy and the quality of life in the coastal region. The community foundation concept is simple: it is a creative, cost-effective and tax efficient way for people to invest in the local community. It supports charitable activities focused primarily on the local needs of Coastal Georgia (Camden, Glynn, & McIntosh) and builds resources from a broad cross-section of the public.
A $10,000 grant to Golden Isles FCA as the 3rd year of a 3-year partnership to provide funding for a new staff position. FCA is a non-profit, interdenominational organization promoting positive, Christian principles to sports-minded individuals around the world. Adding staff will help them meet their goal of transforming coaches and athletes by increasing Golden Isles FCA’s active presence on every area high school, middle school, and college campus as well as with the club and recreation teams. The presence of FCA staff benefits schools, athletes, coaches, and the community.
A $50,000 challenge grant to provide general operating support to HOPE 1312 Collective located in Glynn County and expanding into Camden County. Hope 1312 Collective is based on Proverbs 13:12, which states that hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. The story of children in foster care is a story of hope deferred time and time again. At Hope 1312 Collective, they engage the Church and community to enter the story of child welfare by providing tangible Hope for children in hard places. They are a liaison between the Church, the community, and the child welfare system.
A $125,000 challenge grant to provide funding to support residential services in Hospice House and cover uncompensated days. These funds will support 480 days of residential services in their Hospice House for patients who cannot afford to pay for the cost of residential room and board. HGI is the only community-based, tax-exempt hospice and palliative care organization serving patients and families in their five-county licensed service area that includes Glynn, Camden, McIntosh, Brantley, and Charlton counties. They are also the only local hospice provider to offer a freestanding Hospice House for inpatient respite and residential hospice care. Many dying patients would not be able to receive care in a safe setting from reliable caregivers without this unique resource that HGI provides.
A $75,000 challenge grant to provide program support for the Circles in Columbus poverty reduction initiative in Columbus, Georgia. Open Door is a Methodist organization established to empower impoverished people in their community to realize their full potential as children of God. Circles in Columbus addresses the issues of poverty by establishing a community that empowers and equips families with the tools and resources they need to increase income, decrease debt, and maximize social connections that lead to a life free of poverty.
A $58,243 partial challenge grant to Social Opportunities & Active Recreation, Inc. (SOAR) for general operating expenses. SOAR was established in 2015 by local citizens of Glynn County, comprised of retired educators and family members, who were concerned that adults with developmental disabilities are kept on the fringes of the community due to a lack of engaging and inclusive opportunities. SOAR’s purpose is to strengthen the quality of life of citizens with developmental disabilities in coastal Georgia by providing activities focused on wellness and inclusion. SOAR links citizens with developmental disabilities to community partners, enriching the lives of all.
A $80,000 challenge grant to Wesley Foundation at Valdosta State University as the first year of a two-year partnership. This grant will provide supplemental income for the Wesley Foundations at Valdosta State University, Georgia Southern University, Mercer University, and the College of Coastal Georgia as they develop new models of financial support. As representatives of the Methodist and Wesleyan traditions, their purpose is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who live with the resolve to love both God and people. They seek to educate and equip young adults for lives of personal and social holiness.
Additional information about the St. Marys Methodist Church Foundation, Inc. is available by calling 912-510-9350.