Grant awarded to Community Welcome House

To help local women and children seeking transitional shelter due to domestic violence, the Coweta-Fayette EMC Trust, Inc. Board of Directors/Operation Round Up recently donated funds to Community Welcome House in Coweta to cover the cost of adding additional staffers for the 24-hour-a-day facility and crisis hotline.

Founded in 1990, Community Welcome House addresses the issues surrounding domestic violence from a standpoint of safety and hope. The newly re-opened, nine-bedroom, nine-bathroom residence offers free shelter for victims and provides security and comprehensive case management in the form of caring staffers. The organization seeks to facilitate a permanent change by creating opportunities to recognize and remove barriers that may previously have prevented women from becoming individually successful, thus making it possible for residents to heal from past experiences and successfully embrace future challenges.

Community Welcome House also uses all proceeds from its thrift store — New Beginnings by CWH, located in downtown Newnan — to support, inspire and empower its survivors. For more information on the store, donating items, volunteering or Community Welcome House in general, visit www.communitywelcomehouse.org or call 770-683-8029. If needed, the crisis line is 770-304-0966.

“We thank Coweta-Fayette EMC for their support and encouragement,” said Maureen Coates, Community Welcome House Executive Director.

Operation Round Up is a Coweta-Fayette EMC program that contributes more than $250,000 each year to worthy groups in the cooperative service area. These awards are made possible by voluntary contributions from EMC members whose monthly electric bills are “rounded up” to the nearest dollar. The difference between what is actually owed and the next highest dollar is placed in an interest-bearing account, and this money is managed through a separate board of directors, the Coweta-Fayette Trust.