You might be interested to learn more about some of the local, national, and international agencies and ministries that Emmanuel has supported. Most of the agencies have a web presence, and you can learn about them by jumping to their websites. The links below will help you do that.

The brief description provided with each link is taken from the agency website or the grant application, with minor revisions. The list is divided into two sections: One for local, and the other for beyond the Diocese.

---

Local

All God's Children

It is the mission of All God’s Children to find permanent, adoptive families for children in the foster care system who are legally free to be adopted. These children are harder to place because they are school-aged, because they are brothers and sisters who need a home together, because they belong to a racial minority, or because they have special physical, mental or behavioral needs.  All God’s Children, Inc. is also committed to supporting families after adoptive placement, including in-home counseling services and academic tutoring.

American Red Cross- East GA Chapter    

An AED (Automated External Defibrillator) Training device was purchased with these funds. “The Red Cross training device meets the 2005 AED protocols, and mims the features and prompts of many live AEDs.”

Andy Walker (Back to School Project)

Mr. Walker has worked for years to help supply those children in need of back to school supplies in the Athens area.

The Ark

The Ark is a united ministry of Athens area religious congregations who combine resources to carry out God’s mandate to serve His children in need.  The ark allows for a more comprehensive and systematic response to individuals and families in need than congregations could mount on their own. The Ark opened its doors on January 16, 1989. The Ark helps “neighbors” to weather a brief storm caused by illness, lay offs, or reduced hours in their otherwise stable lives. Financial assistance is offered to those who have a verifiable, documented loss of income through no fault or decision of their own or an unexpected necessary expense such as car repair or acute medicine. 

Athens Area Habitat for Humanity

Athens Area Habitat for Humanity, an independent affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, is an ecumenical, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of substandard housing in Clarke, Oconee, and Oglethorpe counties in the state of Georgia. Our organization was founded in 1988 based on our strong belief that everyone in the Athens community deserves the opportunity to own their own home. Habitat builds houses and sells them to qualifying families at no-profit and no-interest. Furthermore, Habitat homeowners work side by side with volunteers, cutting the cost of building the house. Thus, Habitat is not a give away program. Emmanuel will serve as the principal builder for a Habitat for Humanity house, beginning in July of 2008. To learn more about our family, The Leonards, please click on the following link to read their feature story as published in the Athens Banner Herald on May 25, 2008.

In addition, Emmanuel will spearhead the development of a 7 house neighborhood, with a projected start date of July 2009.

Athens Community Council on Aging – Project Healthy Grandparents

The goal of Project Healthy Grandparents is to provide support for grandparent-grandchild households with a focus on helping the grandparent caregivers maintain a safe and stable home for their grandchildren. The grandparent has assumed responsibility for these children as a result of parental abuse or neglect, parental death or terminal illness, drug or alcohol addiction and/or drug treatment, abandonment, parental incarceration, economic hardship, domestic violence, divorce, or a community crisis.  Financial strain is a major obstacle these grandparents face.

ACCA provides multi-disciplinary, in-home services and case management for these families.  Services include grandparent and grandchild support groups, child mentoring, parenting education, grand-family activities, respite care, child activities, stress management, transportation, nursing health monitoring, and legal services for adoption, custody, guardianship, and wills.

Athens-Oconee CASA

Each year over 460,000 children in the United States are thrust into court through no fault of their own.  They might be victims of violence, psychological torment or sexual abuse.  Others have been neglected or even abandoned by their own parents.  The Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program was created in 1977 to make sure that the abuse and neglect that these children originally suffered at home doesn’t continue as abuse and neglect at the hands of the social services system.  A CASA worker is a trained community volunteer who is appointed by a juvenile court judge to speak for the best interest of children brought before the court because they have been deprived of proper care.

Athens Tutorial

The Athens Tutorial Program is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing one-on-one academic assistance, improving learning skills and providing personal growth and cultural enrichment opportunities to our students. Since 1981 when ATP first opened its doors, more than 4,500 children in grades K-12 have been involved in our program. The children who come to our program are not "problem" students, but students who for whatever reason, have missed some essential elements and encouragement in their learning paths.

Athens Urban Ministry - Our Daily Bread (Office phone #: 706.353.6647)

Athens Urban Ministry is a local non-profit ministry of Action Ministries, Inc.  It operates the soup kitchen, Our Daily Bread, which is the primary feeding station for homeless and hungry people in the Athens area.  Our Daily Bread was opened in 1989 to offer hospitality to persons in need. It operates Monday through Friday, serving breakfast at 8:00 and lunch at noon. Additionally, it serves sack meals on Saturdays and Sundays.  Our Daily Bread operates from the kitchen/fellowship hall of Oconee Street United Methodist Church.  Average daily attendance at breakfast is 60-70 people and at lunch 125-130 people. Saturday and Sunday meal programs serve approximately 85-100 persons each day. All of our support comes from local churches, businesses, and other organizations that share our desire to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and hospitality to the stranger.

Athens Food Policy Council

Funds were sought to establish a box kitchen garden project at the Athens Area Homeless Shelter on Barber Street. The purpose was to add to the existing box garden to have a large enough kitchen garden to prepare meals for the entire shelter on a regular basis.

Athens Regional Medical Center Neonatal ICU

Funds were used to help provide breast pumps and educational material to the new mothers with babies in the unit who could not otherwise afford a pump prior to discharge of their babies from the NICU.

Camp Mikell

Mikell is the Camp and Conference Center of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. Mikell's ministry is to provide an inclusive environment for a faith-based summer camp for children and youth, an outdoor education center and a conference center for groups of all types. In a beautiful and natural setting, we strive to be a home away from home that will exceed our guests' expectations.

Camp Summer Spree

Camp Summer Spree's stated goal is to bring community members together to make a positive difference in the lives of children who are struggling with the ongoing limitations of poverty. We provide a fun, nurturing, educational and recreational environment, where kids who need an extra measure of support are guided and encouraged to realize their full potential and individual value. To achieve these goals, the camp offers a variety of classes, field trips, and free-time activities. 

Cancer Foundation of NE GA

The Cancer Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help alleviate the financial burden of cancer for eligible patients. The target population is cancer patients living in NE GA who are experiencing an immediate financial crisis because they cannot pay for basic life needs such as housing, food, utlities, or essential medications.

Clarke County Student Services

The goal of this organization is to help students eliminate barriers to school success.  Funds from Emmanuel were used to help purchase medical supplies for a child in need.

Clute Barrow Nelson Life Foundation 

The Clute Barrow Nelson Life Foundation has been established as a 501(C)(3) charitable organization to help children with cancer and their families. Requests for financial assistance are received from hospital personnel and social workers with medical centers in the state of Georgia on behalf of the families in need. Funds are dispersed after requests are reviewed by the Foundation's Board of Directors.

Emmanuel Episcopal Day School

Our school provides a warm, nurturing environment for our most precious gifts: Our young children. The School offers children two through five preschool education that respects the God-given worth of each student. (Funds were made available to the Day School for full and partial scholarships.)

Empowered Youth Programs

EYP is a local nonprofit, which focuses on providing developmental and comprehensive support for children and adolescents. Central to its mission is the nurturance of academic and social excellence in all participants.  This includes children and adolescents in grades K-12.  EYP was established in Athens in 1999. (Emmanuel Funds were provided for tutorial services and programs, including the Saturday Academy, Fall & Spring Intercessions, and Exam Lock-Ins, which serve approximately 125 1st - 12th grade students.) 

Food Bank of Northeast Georgia

The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia will work toward ending hunger as part of an overall community effort to alleviate poverty in our community. We strive to minimize and eliminate hunger in Northeast Georgia by developing an effective system to acquire and distribute food which would otherwise be wasted. We strive to increase individual and community awareness and action concerning hunger and poverty.

NEGA FoodBank: Food 2 Kids Program

The Food 2 Kids Program targets the needs of hungry children by providing food on the weekends and evenings when other food is not available.

The Healing Place of Athens

The Healing Place began serving homeless men in 1996 by providing overnight shelter, a Christ-Centered substance abuse recovery program, and structured transitional housing. Follow the link below to read a recent story in the ABH about the Healing Place.

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/021808/news_20080218041.shtml

Interfaith Hospitality Network

The Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens is a coalition of more than 15 area congregations that have partnered together to combat homelessness in Northeast Georgia. Our intent is to provide a community response to help homeless families in crisis situations achieve sustainable independence.

Joyce Ervin Open Hearts Summer Camp

This is a 501c3 organization dedicated to offering summer enrichment activities and opportunities to children living in single-parent families, families with disabilities, and low-income families.  This camp has been in operation for over five years and has served over 100 children in 50 families.

Our Daily Bread

Located at Oconee Street Methodist Church, Our Daily Bread is the Athens area soup kitchen which provides lunch to anyone, serving an average of 125 people a day.  Volunteers provide, prepare and serve food.  Responsibility for organizing the volunteers rotates monthly among Sunday school classes and other groups.  

Rural Outreach Center

The Rural Outreach Center (ROC) is located in Crawford, Georgia. Although it began as a rape crisis outreach center, the ROC has become reorganized as an information and referral center, to meet the needs of low income residents in Oglethorpe County. The ROC serves as a Food Pantry; works with the Council on Aging, DFCS and others to help provide work experience and spearhead other welfare-to-work initiatives; and operates an affordable housing apartment complex. 

Samaritan Counseling

The Samaritan Counseling Center is an interfaith counseling service of qualified professionals who provide confidential, compassionate services to individuals, families, and community groups with respect for personal beliefs and values.  Established in response to expressed community and congregational needs, the Center is dedicated to helping the whole person and to providing educational and growth opportunities.

The Stable Foundation

The Stable Foundation, whose sponsoring group is the Northeast Georgia Homeless Coalition, places families in need in to housing and then surrounds the family with the loving connection of a CARE GROUP from a local church. We also have a case management plan working with the referring agency, working on employment, child care, education, financial education, health care, food, and clothing. 

Stonehenge Youth Association

Stonehenge Youth Association is a 501C3 organization whose mission is to establish, promote, and develop educational, cultural, ans social acitivities for youth in Athens-Clarke County, especially in the isolated Stonehenge community. The approach is to provide a safe and encouraging learning environment where participants can achieve academically and to provide support for the entire family. The funds were used to help provide equipment for youth who could not afford it and to provide resources for the after-school tutorial program.

Among the successes of this 501C3: establishing a reading program for all participants, seeing an increase in CRCT scores, seeing an increase in the graduation rate of the students in Project R.E.A.D.Y. (Reaching Academics Daily), increasing parent participation.

To read an ABH  story about Stonehenge and the Youth Association located there:  http://onlineathens.com/stories/101205/new_20051012074.shtml

St Mary’s Childrens’ Subspecialty Clinic

St. Mary’s Children’s Specialty Services is a free-standing outpatient clinic located just behind the hospital. The only service of its kind in Northeast Georgia, this clinic brings some of the state’s leading experts in pediatric medicine to Athens, so parents don’t have to take their children to Atlanta or Augusta for important consultations.

More than two dozen highly specialized physicians practice at the clinic on a rotating basis, seeing children referred to them by local pediatricians, family practitioners and other specialists. Since the service opened in March 2001, more than 14,000 children have received care there, saving them and their families thousands of hours lost hours from work and school time, and thousands of miles of driving.

The majority of children who visit the clinic qualify for Medicaid or are self-pay.

Young Men’s Christian Association of Athens, Inc.

YMCA Mission Statement: To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.  Our strategic direction is to provide a safe, clean, wholesome place where individuals and families may come to fulfill their recreational and spiritual needs.  We are also a place where everyone is welcomed and no one will be turned away from our programs and services because of their inability to pay for dues and fees. The Athens YMCA’s five character traits are caring, honesty, respect, responsibility, and faith.

Beyond the Diocese

Ecole St. Etienne in Limonade, Haiti

A large financial gift from Emmanuel Episcopal helped establish this school in 1987.

ONE Episcopalian

ONE Episcopalian ™ is a grassroots partnership between The Episcopal Church and the ONE Campaign to rally Episcopalians – ONE by ONE – to the cause of ending extreme poverty in our world and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Episcopal Relief and Development

Episcopal Relief and Development responds to human suffering around the world. We provide emergency assistance after disasters, rebuild communities, and help children and families climb out of poverty. When disaster strikes, we help people by supplying food, water, and medicine immediately. We work hand-in hand with local communities to build new homes, plant crops, create clean water systems, construct clinics and schools, and offer critical post trauma counseling. Through our food security and primary health care program, we provide farming and business training, health care services, and HIV/AIDS programs in communities where families are struggling to survive. We give people the tools to earn an income and create opportunities for their children.

Episcopal Relief and Development – Well Project

Clean Water & Basic Sanitation.  Over 1.6 million people die each year from contaminated water. Thousands of hours are lost searching for clean water. By building a well for a community - giving both a water system and training in basic sanitation - you will help secure access to one of life's most basic needs, allowing families to grow strong for the future. $5000 builds one well.

Episcopal Relief and Development - Lenten Bee Hive Project

(Provided matching funds for the children’s Lenten Bee Hive Project).

Bees & Honey- Equipment and Training.  For small-scale farmers whose land is too poor to accommodate livestock, bees can literally transform lives. Your gift provides apiary training and a whole new source of income through the sale of honey and beeswax.