Nonprofit Highlight – Hospice of the Golden Isles

Hospice of Golden Isles was established in 1979 and provides care for people who have a disease that will not benefit from further aggressive treatment, so that they can live as fully and comfortably as possible. Hospice recognizes the physical, emotional, spiritual and financial needs of each patient and their families. Hospice affirms life and regards dying as a natural process and believes that through the personalized service of their team, patients can live well, with dignity and grace, until death.  The Hospice staff strives to relieve suffering, enhance comfort, promote quality of life, foster choice in end-of-life care and support effective grieving. 

Hospice continues to expand services and opened Jolley House, an eight bed addition with a bereavement / educational center, in the summer of 2007.  Jolley House is the first Hospice facility in Southeast Georgia to offer residential services to indigent and low income persons who are terminally ill.  Additionally, Jolley House has a designated bereavement center for the families of the patients and for the community at large.

For more information about Hospice of the Golden Isles, please visit their website at www.hospice.me.

Nonprofit Highlight – Open Door Community House

Open Door Community House, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 mission agency of the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church.  Their mission is to meet the basic needs of and to empower low-to-moderate income people of Muscogee County, Georgia and surrounding areas.

Open Door was established as a Methodist ministry in 1935, in response to the closure of one the largest mills in the area by providing childcare to women who were able to find work.  The ministry quickly expanded over the years to address many other needs in the Columbus, Georgia area and today serves people through the following programs:

• Children and Youth Programs including after school care, full day summer academy and the Sharing Christmas program providing children with new toys and clothes
• Parent Network
• Senior Adult Programs including a weekly lunch program, transportation to essential services and special outings
• Homeless Services including a transition home for women in crisis and a 12-bed shelter for homeless women
• Community case management for homeless women and their children in all shelters and on the streets in the Columbus area
• Showering Program for unsheltered homeless men and women, which provides a shower, clean clothes, breakfast and a lunch to go
• The Open Door Institute which provides 12 weeks of culinary arts and life skills training in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank

For more information about Open Door Community House, visit their website at www.opendoorcommunityhouse.org.

Nonprofit Highlight – ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization)

The Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO) is a non-profit, Christian organization established in 1981 to strengthen the ministries of missionaries and national churches as they work with small rural farmers and urban gardeners in developing countries. Beginning with a small 5-acre farm in southern Florida, ECHO has developed into a 50 acre Global Village Demonstration farm that acts as a “living classroom” where over 10, 000 visitors each year can see practical options available to those working with the poor. 

They have also developed a seed bank, which now contains about 350 varieties of hard-to-find vegetables, multi-purpose trees, fruits, and other tropical crops. These plants hold special potential for producing under difficult conditions, where it is too dry, too wet, or too hilly for most crops. As a result, they are ideal for the environments associated with many of the underdeveloped countries of the world whose people are in need of physical and spiritual assistance.

ECHO is currently impacting 180 Countries reducing hunger and improving lives.

For more information about ECHO and their various programs visit their website at www.echonet.org.

Nonprofit Highlight – Georgia Center for Nonprofits and The Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation

This month we highlight our local nonprofit resource partners who have partnered with the St. Marys United Methodist Church Foundation to address the needs of the local nonprofit community.

The Georgia Center for Nonprofits is Georgia’s association for nonprofit, charitable organizations. Their mission is to serve, strengthen and support Georgia’s nonprofit community. The Center advocates to improve the environment in which nonprofits work and helps nonprofits manage better by offering information, training, consulting and nonprofit jobs services.

Through a three-tiered delivery system, the Center provides Georgia nonprofits with a comprehensive set of high quality services and information to meet their needs. Through the use of technology, its special member services and its advocacy program, the Center serves and supports nonprofits in every corner of the state.

While providing information, training and consulting to meet the spectrum of nonprofit management needs, the Center works to increase nonprofits’ access to and use of technology to help them become and remain effective in an economy more and more reliant on technology.

For more information about the Georgia Center for Nonprofits, you can visit their website at www.gcn.org.

 

The Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life in Coastal Georgia by promoting and increasing responsible, effective philanthropy—now and for future generations.  They accomplish this in several ways:

Linking donors’ interests with community needs

At the heart of their mission is the unique desire and ability to link donors’ charitable interests to critical community needs. The Foundation serves as a conduit by helping philanthropic individuals and families achieve their charitable goals. Donors choose the Foundation as their philanthropic partner because of the personalized, customized service we provide and because of our broad, flexible mission to serve our local communities–making a difference where it is needed most.

Builder and caretaker of community resources

The Foundation is comprised of a collection of endowed funds. Endowments are fundamental to philanthropy and are created when charitable dollars are invested. Charitable funds are essential to philanthropy. Through them, legacies are built. Funds that have been and will be established at the Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation will benefit our region today and for generations to come. Our vision is to ensure that each donor’s investment will help enrich lives and improve collective good works long after the donor’s lifetime.

Grantmaker

The Foundation provides grants annually to charitable organizations through Camden, Glynn and McIntosh counties. Through the Foundation’s donor advised funds, grants can be made to any qualified nonprofit organization in the country.

Convener and collaborator

The Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation aims to serve as a community catalyst and leader. Over time, the Foundation will become a convener on critical issues. We will commission studies, produce reports, and facilitate and connect local nonprofits to national resources and /or partnerships. We will be an incubator for innovative programs and services. Because the Community Foundation does not have an “agenda” other than building community through effective, responsible philanthropy, we can and often will take the lead on many social issues that might otherwise be overlooked.

For more information about the Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation, please visit their website at www.coastalgeorgiafoundation.org.

Nonprofit Highlight – The Vashti Center

The Vashti Center for Children and Families is a ministry of the United Methodist Church and a mission of the United Methodist Women. Established in 1903 as a home for homeless girls, the center now serves boys and girls, ages 6-17 who are in need.  Vashti provides some of the following services: 

• An Emergency Shelter for boy and girls 6 – 17
• Level 5 Residential Care – intermediate residential treatment program for boy and girls
• Therapeutic Wraparound services for 6 counties in Southwest Georgia
• A Second Chance Home for teen mothers and their infant and toddler children
• Bishop Hall Charter School serving at risk children from 9^th  through 12^th  grade
• First Placement / Best Placement evaluation services

For more information about The Vashti Center, please visit their website at www.vashti.org.

Nonprofit Highlight – Coastal Counseling Center

Coastal Counseling Center was formed with the vision of providing mental health and substance abuse counseling services for adults in Camden County who either do not have any insurance or whose insurance will not pay for counseling services.  They work with adults whose financial situation may have been a barrier to seeking counseling services and this is done through a sliding scale fee that is relative to a family’s combine income.  Fees are reasonable and designed to provide adults with a resource to help them through troubled times.

For more information regarding the Coastal Counseling Center, you can visit their website at www.coastalcounselingcenter.org.

Nonprofit Highlight – April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month

The Methodist Home for Children and Youth

The Methodist Home for Children and Youth is more than a home for children, it is also a home for a host of children and family programs and services. With six sites across South Georgia (Macon, Americus, Valdosta, St. Marys, Columbus and Waverly Hall), they have a range of more than 15 services. For nearly 137 years, The Methodist Home for Children and Youth has provided a healing, nurturing setting for children in the least restrictive and most appropriate environment.  They have established Regional Group Homes to provide specialized care nearer to the child’s natural home located in Americus, Valdosta, Columbus, and St. Marys.  For more information, you can visit their website at www.themethodisthome.org.  

The Camden County CASA (court Appointed Special Advocate) program was established in 1997 to provide advocacy services for abused and neglected childen in Camden County who are at risk and have been 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.  Volunteers serve as an independent reporting source and as a voice for children who otherwise have no representation in a system focused on parents and state regulations.  A CASA volunteer’s focus is to present an opinion based on interviewing and investigation as to the best interest of the children being served regarding placement, to help reduce the time a child spends in care, and to be a constant resource and advocate for children who often have no other continuous figure of support due to changes in homes, schools, caseworkers and often even family members.  For more information regarding the Camden County CASA program, please visit their website at www.casacamden.org.

Nonprofit Hightlight – Habitat for Humanity of Camden County

 

Moving faith to action, Habitat for Humanity of Camden County advocates for and builds decent affordable housing to enhance lives and strengthen Camden County in partnership with the community.

 

Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat for Humanity of Camden County builds and rehabilitates houses in partnership with families in need.  Habitat houses are affordable because there is no profit included in the sale price and no interest is charged on the mortgage. The familys’ monthly mortgage payments go into a revolving fund which is used to build more houses.  Homeowners are chosen based on their need for affordable housing, their ability to repay a Habitat mortgage and their willingness to partner with Habitat.

 

For more information about Habitat for Humanity of Camden County, you can visit their website at www.hfhcamden.org.

Nonprofit Highlight – The STAR Foundation

The STAR (Southern Technological Advocacy Resources) Foundation was established in 1997 to serve low-income individuals and benefit the local business community by providing computer-based instruction and job skills training to low-income individuals. The program began as a partnership with the Brunswick Housing Authority where they would teach people how to use a computer. The initial “pilot” class of five residents had to share a computer, but all successfully completed the training and each continues to be gainfully employed. 

 

In the years since, the program has expanded beyond the residents of the Brunswick Housing Authority to the broader community with over 797 graduates to date. Since the program does not receive any type of government assistance, they rely solely on foundation, corporate and individual support. In addition to providing computer educational programs, STAR also serves as a “recycling center” where individuals and businesses can donate computer systems that are repaired if necessary and given to program graduates and approved non-profit organizations.

 

The curriculum provided during the 10-week course includes computer skills such as keyboarding, Microsoft Office, Windows XP and Internet basics; job skills such as resume writing, workplace behavior and workplace ethics; and life skills such as budgeting, community involvement, homeownership, time management and conflict resolution. 

 

In addition to benefiting these individuals, the business community benefits from an increased and better-trained pool of available workers and the community benefits as these individuals move from welfare to providing their own financial support.

 

For more information regarding the STAR Foundation, you can visit their website at www.starfoundation.org .

Nonprofit Highlight – Magnolia Manor

Magnolia Manor opened in 1963 in response to the need for safe, secure housing and long-term care for the elderly. Today, Magnolia Manor provides, as a ministry of the United Methodist Church, a variety of 23 quality retirement communities throughout southern Georgia. Magnolia Manor’s strategic direction is to be a leading provider of retirement living opportunities and to bring the best resources of staff, facilities, programs, and Christian compassion to focus on meeting the needs of their residents and the resident’s family.

For more information, please visit Magnolia Manor’s website at www. magnoliamanor.com .