Story Contact: Cindy King

Phone: 678-455-1539

E-Mail: Cindy.King@Sawnee.com

SAWNEE EMC OPERATION ROUND UP DONATES $8,500 TO LOCAL CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS

(Cumming, October 11, 2004)—Sawnee Electric Membership Foundation Board of Directors voted to donate $8, 500.00 to four local charities.  Sawnee EMC adopted Operation Round Up in April 2003 and formed the Sawnee Electric Membership Foundation.  Operation Round Up is a program designed to allow our members to voluntarily “round up” their electric bills to the next dollar. Through this unique program, members of Sawnee EMC can donate “small change” and still make big differences in their communities. All, 100%, of members’ donations goes to qualifying 501 (c)(3) and 501 (c) (4) organizations within Sawnee’s service territory.  The organizations that received funds at the September 2004 gifting were: Hi Hope Service Center, Camp Sunshine, Gainesville Action Ministries, and Dawson County Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.).
 

            Gwinnett County Association for retarded Citizens, Inc. DBA Hi Hope Service Center, requested $3,000 for specialized equipment for their Day Habilitation Program. Camp Sunshine requested $500 to sponsor a local family to one weekend of family camp and cancer support. Gainesville Action Ministries requested $3,500 to fix the roof on the house of an elderly and disabled citizen in Gainesville. Dawson County C.E.R.T requested funds to provide volunteers with backpacks and supplies including first aid kits, supplies and special tools. All of these organizations provide wonderful services to the community.
 

  “We began “rounding up” bills in June of 2003 and, through the generosity of our members, we were able to donate over $23,000 in the Foundations first year”, stated Cindy King, Director of External Affairs, Sawnee EMC.  To learn more about the Operation Round Up program and the Sawnee Electric Membership Foundation, visit www.sawnee.com or call Customer Service at 770-887-2363.
 

            Sawnee EMC is a consumer-owned cooperative providing electricity and related services to over 110,000 members in Forsyth, Cherokee, Dawson, Hall, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Lumpkin counties. Collectively, Georgia’s 42 customer-owned EMCs provide electricity and related services to 3.7 million people, nearly half of Georgia’s population, across 73% of the state’s land area. Georgia’s electric membership cooperatives now serve more customers than any other state network of EMCs in the nation.