The Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation observed its 12th anniversary on Feb. 7 by distributing $3,160,617 to medical related agencies and ministries.
The annual awards banquet, held at the Baptist Missions and Ministry Center in Duluth, provided 50 grants based on applications received in 2016. A total of 102 recipients and guests, including board members, attended the noon banquet.
“As we selected the grant recipients for this year, we continued to emphasize transforming health care ministries in and through Georgia Baptist Associations,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Will Bacon.
“Our efforts in health care offer generosity that we pray will eventuate into continued deeds of kindness, both for the ones receiving the ministry and the ones who offer it. In our Christian vocation, we are called to bring unity, walk with the stranger, lift the oppressed and give voice to the unheard.
“Our grants are distributed to help transform communities for Christ, by touching individuals at their points of health care need.”
Bacon then thanked the recipients for their attempts “to create a better world by helping people transform into a more beneficial way of being and thinking. You are the kind-hearted. We need you to help us fashion a kinder world. For the sake of humanity, this is what is at stake here.
“It is said that just as every river is winding its way to the ocean,
every soul is attempting a union with its Creator. Your career in non-profits is an attempt to help those souls who come to be helped by you, to find their way, to create a meaningful and sustainable life.
Since 2005 the Foundation has distributed nearly 600 grants totaling more than $36 million and has involved 62,679 volunteers. Through its grants it has touched 3,311,129 lives and seen 16,692 people accept Christ.