Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2B PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. MARCH 18. 2021
OLM Knights of Columbus tour,
donate to The Pregnancy Center
(L-R): Jim Knapp, Scott Curran, Lori Woodworth, Pat Page, Doug Orebaugh
Submitted for the Knights
of Columbus
Officers of the Knights of
Columbus from Our Lady of
the Mountains Catholic
Church recently visited The
Pregnancy Center to donate
the proceeds of their “Baby
Bottle Boomerang” fundrais
ing effort. Doug Orebaugh,
the long-time chairman of the
OLM fundraiser, presented a
check for $5,500 to Execu
tive Director Pat Page during
a visit to The Pregnancy Cen
ter’s new facility at 7 Caring
Way in Jasper.
The Knights of Columbus
are a Catholic charitable and
fraternal organization with
mission focus in the areas of
faith, family, community, and
life. Knights engage in pro
life activities at state, na
tional, and international
levels. Scott Curran, the
council’s “Grand Knight” ex
plains that “The Pregnancy
Center’s mission to minister
to women and families by
providing material assis
tance, spiritual nourishment,
and life-skills education in
our community creates a nat
ural alliance with the Knights
of Columbus.” He describes
their support of The Preg
nancy Center as “absolutely
consistent” with the Knights’
pro-life work. “When you
consider available data from
sources like the CDC and the
Guttmacher Institute which
indicate that over 62 million
lives have been lost to abor
tion in the U.S. since 1973,
supporting ministries like
The Pregnancy Center be
comes a mission-critical ac
tivity.”
Lori Woodworth, The
Pregnancy Center’s Commu
nity Engagement Coordina
tor led the Knights on an
extensive tour of their new
facility. Mr. Orebaugh and
Knights of Columbus Treas
urer, Jim Knapp, noted that
the new building is a vast up
grade from The Center’s for
mer location. Ms.
Woodworth pointed out that
the bright and expansive fa
cility was donated to The
Pregnancy Center to enable
them to grow their mission to
serve the local community.
As Ms. Woodworth led
the visitors through the well-
equipped counseling and ed
ucational facilities, she
explained, “The Pregnancy
Center is a resource hub not
only for the expectant Mom,
but for Dads and families too.
We offer free counseling, in
cluding all types of addiction
counseling.” While showcas
ing The Pregnancy Center’s
vast library educational ma
terials, she explained that
they offer “hundreds of
‘Bright Course’ lessons rang
ing from what to expect dur
ing pregnancy and birth to
parenting toddlers and teens,
and even coparenting. These
courses are offered both in
person and online.” They
also offer abortion recovery
counseling for those who live
with the deep wounds of
being affected by abortion in
some way. “This wonderful
group of staff and volunteers
are there to offer practical
help and spiritual hope to all
who walk through the doors”,
Ms. Woodworth remarked.
The Center’s staff can create
a custom learning path to
meet the specific needs of
mothers and families. They
even go as far as to pay
“Baby Bucks” for taking
courses. Baby bucks can be
spent in the Angel Babies
Boutique for practical and
needed items.
The tour continued to the
donation processing facility.
If the Angel Babies Boutique
is the beating heart of The
Pregnancy Center’s commu
nity outreach effort, then
their donation processing op
eration is the blood supply.
There, devoted staff mem
bers and volunteers carefully
sort, catalog, and prepare do
nated items to supply the
boutique.
Woodworth then led the
Knights to the Angel Babies
Boutique. She described the
boutique’s mission to “serve
the community by providing
the best of new and gently
used clothes and baby items
to sell at a fraction of the
cost. We also have clothes,
toys, cribs, car seats and all
kinds of baby essentials at
thrift store prices.” She
proudly added, “The Bou
tique offers formula and dia
pers at 75% off retail price,
and The Angel Babies Bou
tique is open to the public!”
At the conclusion of the
tour, Pat and Lori gave the
visiting Knights an update on
the organization’s current op
erations. They explained that
The Pregnancy Center is
100% funded by donations
from individuals, churches,
and organizations, and they
do not accept financial sup
port from government agen
cies. Therefore, there are
always specific needs for
new or gently used items. All
donations go directly to sup
port the ministry of The Preg
nancy Center and are
tax-deductible. For more in
formation on The Pregnancy
Center, visit their website:
https://babyontheway.org/.
To learn more about the
Knights of Columbus, please
visit: https://www.kofc.org.
Active, Reserve, Retired & Honorably Discharged
thi
iiJiflii Gurus leaning
Marines
For more information on the
Marine Corps League,
what it does, and how you can
join, call 706-253-0459 (voice mail)
or email usmcl280@gmail.com.
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Benefit for Boys and Girls Club
Georgia unemployment rate decreases
From GADept. of Labor
Atlanta - The Georgia De
partment of Labor (GDOL)
announced today that Geor
gia’s unemployment rate
dropped 0.2 percentage
points in January to reach 5.1
percent and has decreased 7.4
percentage points since the
start of the pandemic. Geor
gia’s January unemployment
rate was 1.2 percent lower
than the national unemploy
ment rate.
“In our first month of
2021, we saw the unemploy
ment rate continue to drop
signifying Georgia is pushing
through this pandemic said
Commissioner of Labor
Mark Butler. “I look forward
getting more Georgians back
to work, filling the more than
200,000 available job listings
on EmployGeorgia.
The job total listed online
at EmployGeorgia has nearly
tripled since the beginning of
the pandemic from the April
2020 listing of just 73,000
jobs. Of the over 205,000
jobs currently listed on Em
ployGeorgia, over half of
them advertise annual
salaries over $40,000. In
many cases, employers are
willing to train quality candi
dates and assist with attain
ment of additional
credentials.
In January, the number of
employed Georgians was up
24,705 to reach a total of
4,853,894, and the number of
employed was up by 489,000
since April.
Georgia’s labor force in
January saw an increase of
12,171 to reach a total of
5,112,468. That number is
also up 126,000 since the
start of the pandemic in
April.
Jobs in January decreased
by 1,700, reaching a total of
4,448,100. That number is
down 215,100 compared to
this same time last year.
In January, initial unem
ployment claims increased
by 5 percent (6,141) since
December to reach 130,426.
Claims were up by 184 per
cent (84,445) over the year.
Resources for reemploy
ment assistance along with
Information on filing an un
employment claim and de
tails on how employers can
file partial claims can be
found on the agency's web
page at dol.georgia.gov.
For more information on
jobs and current labor force
date, visit the Georgia Labor
Force Market Explorer at
www.explorer.gdol.ga.gov to
view a comprehensive report.
State net tax revenues top $1.9 billion
From the office of
Gov. Brian Kemp
Atlanta - The state of
Georgia’s net tax collections
for February totaled over
$1.93 billion, for an increase
of $581 million, or 42.9 per
cent, compared to February
2020, when net tax collec
tions totaled $1.35 billion.
Year-to-date, net tax collec
tions totaled nearly $17.04
billion, for an increase of al
most $1.48 billion, or 9.5
percent, over last year, while
year-to-date gross tax collec
tions totaled $22.62 billion,
for an increase of $1.38 bil
lion or 6.5 percent over FY
2020.
February’s net tax collec
tions growth was greatly in
fluenced by the State of
Georgia’s concurrence with
the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) guidance that directed
the acceptance and process
ing of 2020 Individual tax
year returns beginning Feb
ruary 12, 2021. This deferred
commencement of tax re
turns processing led to a cor
responding delay in tax
refunds, which yielded an ex
traordinarily favorable net
revenue variance within the
Individual Income Tax cate
gory and in net revenue col
lections overall. This highly
favorable variance is de
picted in the section below
detailing notable year-over-
year variances within the In
dividual Income Tax cate
gory. Over the next several
months refund processing
will be accelerated, which
will moderate the dispropor
tionately favorable impact on
the financial results reported
in February and mitigate the
large, short-term impact of
the processing delay.
The changes within the
following tax categories help
to further explain February’s
overall net tax revenue in
crease:
Individual Income Tax: In
dividual Income Tax collec
tions totaled roughly $1.06
billion, which was an in
crease of $523.5 million, or
96.7 percent, compared to
last year when Income Tax
collections totaled $541.5
million.
The following notable
components within Individ
ual Income Tax combine for
the net increase:
■ Individual Income Tax re
funds issued were lower by
$429.4 million or -77.5 per
cent (per guidance above)
■ Individual Withholding
payments increased by $86.6
million, or 8.4 percent, over
last year
■ All other Individual Tax
categories, including Esti
mated Tax payments, were
up a combined $7.5 million
Sales and Use Tax: Gross
Sales and Use Tax collections
totaled $1.09 billion in Feb
ruary, for an increase of
$126.1 million, or 13.1 per
cent compared to February
2020. Net Sales and Use Tax
increased by $76.4 million,
or 16.3 percent, compared to
FY 2020. The adjusted Sales
Tax distribution to local gov
ernments totaled $540.8 mil
lion for an increase of $51.7
million, or 10.6 percent,
while Sales Tax Refunds fell
by roughly $2.1 million from
last year.
Corporate Income Tax:
Corporate Income Tax col
lections during the month to
taled $7.7 million, which was
a decrease of roughly $17.2
million, or -69 percent, com
pared to February 2020.
The following notable
components within Corpo
rate Income Tax make up the
net decrease:
■ Corporate Income Tax re
funds issued (net of voided
checks) were up $8.9 million
or 86.6 percent
■ Corporate Income Tax Re
turn payments declined by
$5.7 million, or -70 percent,
from last year
■ All other Corporate Tax
types, including Estimated
Tax payments, were down a
combined $2.6 million
Motor Fuel Taxes: Motor
Fuel Tax collections de
creased by $0.8 million, or -
0.5 percent, compared to FY
2020.
Motor Vehicle - Tag & Title
Fees: Motor Vehicle Tag &
Title Fees increased by $2.6
million, or 7.1 percent, in
February, while Title Ad Val
orem Tax (TAVT) collections
fell by $3.7 million, or -6.1
percent, compared to last
year.
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