Originally published in the Augusta Chronicle. 
By Lisa Kaylor

Area children and others in need will reap the benefits from Augusta’s largest tailgate party.

The Border Bash Foundation distributed money it raised during Border Bash 2012 to representatives of 17 charities at Beasley Broadcast Studios on Friday.

For 19 years, the Border Bash Foundation has distributed nearly $700,000 to charities and expects to top $750,000 for its 20th anniversary next year, said Joel Simmons, the president of the Georgia Bulldog Club.

As they received their checks, representatives told board members of the Georgia Bulldog Club and the Augusta Gamecock Club exactly how the money would help their organization.

Several charities will help families of children who are being treated in area hospitals.

Joe Stevenson, the director of the 12 Bands of Christmas, said his organization will use the money to assist families of children who have pediatric cancer.

“Basically … not only do we bring music to the patients at the hospital, but we get requests from the families through the hospital social worker for power bills, mortgage payments – just immediate needs they can’t quite pay for while their child is being treated at the (Medical College of Georgia) Children’s Medical Center,” he said.

Others, such as Girls on the Run and the Georgia-Carolina Council of the Boys Scouts of America, will use the funding to provide scholarships for children who ordinarily could not afford to participate in their programs.

Still others will use the money to help children cope with and heal from traumatic experiences.

“One of the children we helped this year was last year actually being locked in a closet. He spent the year being afraid and scared,” said Margaret Ford, the executive director of The Children’s Place Inc. “This year, we’ve been able to help him not be afraid anymore. This money will actually go directly into our therapy. Thank you very much.”

Other recipients were the Boys & Girls Clubs of the CSRA, the Center for New Beginnings, Child Enrichment, the Child and Family Development Center, the Community Foundation of the CSRA, Easter Seals of East Georgia, the Children’s Medical Center, Golden Harvest Food Bank, Julie’s House, Kids Restart, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Storyland Theatre and the United Way of the CSRA.

The Border Bash is an annual pep rally featuring cheerleaders, mascots and live music held before the Georgia-South Carolina college football game.

2012 RECIPIENTS
These charities received money raised during Border Bash 2012:
• 12 Bands of Christmas
• Georgia-Carolina Council of the Boy Scouts of America
• Boys & Girls Club of the CSRA
• Center for New Beginnings
• Child Enrichment
• Children’s Place Inc.
• Child and Family Development Center
• Community Foundation of the CSRA
• Easter Seals of East Georgia
• GHSU Children’s Medical Center
• Girls on the Run
• Golden Harvest Food Bank
• Julie’s House
• Kids Restart
• Ronald McDonald House
• Storyland Theatre
• United Way of the CSRA

Originally published in the Augusta Chronicle
By Meg Mirshak

A passenger van, a job skills coach, scholarship money and arts programming were among the gifts funded by community grants awarded Friday.

Forty nonprofit organizations and area service agencies received a share of $475,000 from the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area. The foundation, whose Unrestricted Grant Fund is primarily funded by the Masters Tournament, has given to nonprofit groups since 1996.

This year, the recipients included Child Enrichment Inc., Broad Street Ministry, Friendship Community Center and Julie’s House Inc.

Compass Youth Mentoring, a group that works with east Augusta elementary and middle school pupils filtering into Laney High School, received a $10,460 grant to purchase a passenger van.

The van will haul children from the program’s current meeting place at River Glen Apartments to May Park Community Center, program director John Williams said.

The grant applications were reviewed by 20 volunteer panels consisting of 140 area leaders.

They visited the agencies, reviewed applications and made recommendations from the 122 grant proposals.

Lee Smith, the president and CEO of the Community Foundation, said the grant recipients represent small and large nonprofits. Some grant winners were lesser-known organizations that fill a substantial community need.

“We are looking for pressing and changing needs throughout the community,” Smith said. “Our panels do such a magnificent job on their site visits determining who, this year, will give the most impact to this community.”

Hope House, a residential treatment facility for women who suffer from substance abuse and mental health disorders, will use a $10,460 grant to hire and train a job-skills coach.

“This person will work directly with our case manager and directly with employers in the community,” said Karen Saltzman, the executive director of Hope House.

A $9,295 grant was awarded to When Help Can’t Wait, a volunteer organization that donates toiletries, clothing, hearing aids and other items to nursing home residents on Medicare or Medicaid and without family.

“We act as a surrogate family, and we take them all those simple, convenient things that you and I take for granted,” said Helen McVicker, the group’s president.

With the grant, When Help Can’t Wait will expand its thrift store, where it sells items to generate revenue to purchase items for nursing home residents.

Julie's House was one of the 40 awardees 

Julie’s House Inc.:
A $12,000 grant for the continued provision of a shelter and other necessities to homeless women and their children, giving them the opportunity to further their education, acquire job skills and seek employment so they can become independent and self-sufficient.

Published by The Columbia County News-Times
By Barry L. Paschal 

One of her charity’s workers laughed heartily when I said his boss could talk the ears off a mule.

But Pat Bourke has a lot to talk about.

The founder of Julie’s House and its primary funding mechanism, the Making Ends Meet Bargain Center, Bourke is a petite whirlwind of information as she talks about her mission.

I was chatting with her because Julie’s House now is one of the beneficiaries of Hope Soap, the toiletry collection drive that gathers items (typically) from travelers who bring back the free stuff from hotel rooms. The News-Times office is a drop-off site, and when there’s enough collected, I’ll take it to one of the local agencies for distribution to those in need.

Julie’s House is one of those agencies. It provides a place to stay for a dozen women and children, usually those who have either been victims of domestic violence or who otherwise find themselves on the verge of homelessness.

Bourke founded Julie’s House a little more than four years ago after retiring from the Georgia Department of Labor, where she learned plenty about bureaucratic roadblocks. She also learned a lot about how much unmet need there is in the community for women and children on the margins.

Since then, she’s poured heart and soul, and money, into providing the home where the women and kids have a roof over their heads, life-skills training and other support services.

But just as working in a government bureaucracy taught her about the labyrinth that awaits anyone legitimately seeking assistance (fraudsters seem to glide right through), the experience of running a shelter also has taught Bourke that no matter how much is done, more is needed.

More than once, in fact, she and her helpers quoted from Jesus’ Parable of the Talants, which boiled down means the reward for hard work is more work.

While the agency receives occasional grants and assistance from kind individuals, the thrift store is a steady source of income. Bourke proudly gives a tour.

Making Ends Meet started with just 900 square feet in La Petite Plaza, a little strip in Martinez. It now has grown to the other side of the lot in a parallel building, filling a 6,000-square-foot thrift store with all manner of items.

The sale of those items helps fund Julie’s House, helping keep at-risk women and children off the street.

Want to help?

• Donate items or shop at Making Ends Meet. They’re open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

• Donate money to Making Ends Meet at the store, or at P.O. Box 204235, Martinez, Ga., 30907. You also can find them at www.julies-house.org.

• Volunteer. Many hands make light work.

There’s still a lot of work to be done, and that’s why Pat Bourke has so much to talk about.

God bless her and her mission.

(Barry L. Paschal is publisher of The Columbia County News-Times. Email barry.paschal@newstimes online.com, or call 706-863-6165, extension 106. Follow at http://www.twitter.com/barrypaschal.)

Originally Published by the Augusta Chronicle, March 10th, 2010

MONTHS OF SERVICE: Three

WHAT SHE DOES: "I'm a 'go-for.' I go for this and I go for that. I do anything they tell me to do, except the cash register. Customer service, merchandise. I work with the customers, talking to them, straightening up."

WHY SHE DOES IT: "What I liked about this store was it was such a good cause. This is a thing I'm interested in because I was a foster child. I believe in what they do."

THE ORGANIZATION: Making Ends Meet Bargain Center

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION: The bargain center is a thrift store that provides income to support Julie's House, a shelter for homeless women and their children. It is also a resource center, providing clothing and household items to needy families. The store is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The center accepts all donations. Items that are not used are donated to Mercy Ministries.

GREATEST NEEDS: Volunteers are needed to work in the thrift store. The center also needs a truck, which is tax deductible, said Executive Director Pat Bourke. The store needs spring and summer clothing, especially children's clothing.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Donate clothing, household goods and furnishings by dropping them off at the center during its business hours. Large items can be picked up. To make arrangements for a pickup or to volunteer, call Bourke at (706) 836-2781.

Originally published by the Augusta Chronicle - January 18th, 2010
 
The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors -- Augusta presented $2,000 to Julie's House. The proceeds were from the organization's annual golf tournament in November. Pictured are: Pat Loflin (from left), Pat Bourke, Terry Lawson, Mike Balchin, Pat Campbell, Brenda Clark and Mike Herrington.

Paragraph.

By Lindsay Wilkes-Edrington | Staff Writer Augusta Chronicle
July 06, 2006

Through her work as a human services specialist, Pat Bourke says, she has seen many women in the Augusta area who are at risk of becoming homeless.

"I've had women at my desk, with their children sitting at my feet with a little baggie of animal crackers, and they did not know where they were going to sleep the next night," she said. "I'd call shelters for them, but often hear, 'We're at capacity, we can't take any more tonight.' I just felt helpless to do anything." So Ms. Bourke is working to establish Julie's House, a crisis center and transitional housing facility that will help local women and children, including many who are leaving domestic-violence situations, get back on their feet.

Although the center has yet to be built, Ms. Bourke has started serving women in emergency situations by putting them up in hotels or transporting them to shelters in Aiken. "I'm having to start small, but I feel led to do this," she said.

According to the Augusta Task Force for the Homeless, 65 beds are available for women in local shelters, and all fill up fairly quickly. Even when there is space available, Ms. Bourke said, the 30, 60 or 90 days that women are allowed to stay doesn't allow them to get situated and start a new life.

She said she envisions Julie's House as a place with several efficiency apartments where women and their children can stay for up to 24 months while they receive help securing a job, getting an education and finding a new home.

"These women not only have to heal emotionally and physically, but they often have a lot of legal things to take care of," Ms. Bourke said. "They're going to be the head of the household, and you can't be head of the household on minimum wage."

Julie's House is named after the first woman Ms. Bourke helped. The woman, who was going through a divorce, had never been in the work force. With Ms. Bourke's assistance, she was able to find a job.

Since Julie's House began in 2004, Ms. Bourke said, she and her volunteers have helped more than 20 women.

The center is currently operating with limited funds, which have been donated by local businesses and those who attended a fundraising dinner. But Ms. Bourke is also seeking grants and hopes to find a building to house the center. She is confident that Julie's House will then be able to assist many more.

"We know how important this is to the community, and we need to get the message out," said Tom Sorrells, a member of the center's board of directors. "Julie's House could be a really good thing, and I feel like it should be a community effort."

From the Friday, July 07, 2006 edition of the Augusta Chronicle Be sure to watch for segments about Julie's House on WJBF-TV during the month of July and read about our organization in the July and August issues of Skirt Magazine.   Thank you, Cindy Giet, for nominating me for the Giving your Best Award.   We are pleased that our organization is receiving media coverage.