JCREMC’s Operation Round-Up® Helps Fund Community Efforts

As executive director of Johnson County Senior Services, Kimberly Smith has a lot to worry about. “We have been assisting more than 9,000 food-insecure individuals, and some months it has surpassed 10,000,” she says. One of her biggest worries was the organization’s inability to provide fresh meat and poultry to their clients due to a lack of refrigeration. “We couldn’t store very much fresh food.”

Although cans of tuna and chicken, along with peanut butter and other staples, are always welcome, fresh produce and meat provide a more balanced diet for their clients.

All that changed in December when Johnson County Senior Services received a $5,000 grant from JCREMC Community Fund Operation RoundUp® to purchase a commercial refrigerator/freezer. “Since we bought the unit, we received an entire cow from one farmer and were also able to accept extra fresh produce from the Midwest Food Bank and other programs,” Smith says.

JCREMC’s Operation Round-Up® is a voluntary consumer-member funded program that allows JCREMC consumers to work together to benefit their communities. When monthly consumer billing statements are prepared, bills of JCREMC consumers who have opted into Operation Round-Up® are rounded up to the nearest whole dollar. The extra change is placed in the JCREMC Community Fund to provide financial support for charitable causes and non-profit organizations within JCREMC’s service territory. The average consumer contributes about $6 annually.

The grant, along with an additional grant to purchase food items (see sidebar), has assisted Johnson County Senior Services in filling a vital role in our community. Since the beginning of the pandemic, seniors have been urged to stay home, making it more difficult for them to access nutritious food. “We are the only agency in the county that delivers food to seniors,” Smith says. “Many of our clients lack transportation, and they are struggling to pay for rent and prescriptions. When they call us, you can sometimes hear the panic in their voices, because they are scared.”
Thanks to the JCREMC consumers who have contributed to Operation Round-Up® , Johnson County Senior Services can now answer many more calls.

Johnson County Senior Services was just one of 17 local non-profit community organizations representing education, public health and safety, and community improvement to receive a total of $65,233 this past fall from the JCREMC Community Fund Operation Round-Up® , which is overseen by an independent advisory board.

During the Fall 2020 cycle, grants were awarded to these organizations for the following projects:
• Humane Society of Johnson County – Memorial Gardens
• Creative Council of Franklin – Hall of the Brave
• Franklin Community FFA – Agricultural Center
• Greenwood Christian Church – Operation Care Transportation
• Habitat for Humanity of Johnson County – Raise the Roof Build
• Johnson County Historical Society – Hendricks Log Cabin History Sign
• Indian Creek FFA – Creek Cattle Company Feed
• Interchurch Food Pantry of Johnson County – Healthy Food
• Johnson Memorial Hospital Guild – Bariatric Wheelchair Mover
• Purdue Extension Johnson County and Johnson County 4-H – Makers Space STEM Kits
• Red Alert Robotics Parent Organization – Air Compressor
• Resources of Hope, Inc. – Teen Connect
• Johnson County Senior Services – Commercial Refrigerator/Freezer
• United Way of Johnson County – Christmas Angels
• Upstream Prevention, Inc. – DrumFIT
• Volunteer Fire Department Amity Community – Water Rescue Team
• Wall That Heals Franklin 2021 – Traveling Vietnam Wall and Museum

Operation Round-Up® Community Grant applications are available semi-annually in April and October. Spring 2021 Grant Request Applications will be available on the JCREMC website from April 1 through April 30, 2021. Learn more at jcremc.com/operation-round-up.

Emergency Food Relief Funds

According to Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hungerrelief organization, there has been a double-digit percent increase nationally in the number of people who are food insecure due to COVID-19. To meet this need locally, the JCREMC Community Fund Operation Round-Up® Advisory Board voted to allocate a total of $21,000 in emergency local food relief funds to the following organizations in December:
• Interchurch Food Pantry of Johnson County
• Johnson County Senior Services Food Pantry
• Johnson County Good Cheer Fund

Newsletter Winter 2020 – 2021 | Download the PDF version.