Staff Writer
Churches and assistance agency officials, who work daily with households needing help with home heating costs, are worried that there are less funding options available for those having trouble keeping warm this winter.
With the high costs of heating oil, money from assistance agencies, such as the Aroostook County Action Program, local welfare offices and the Salvation Army, can’t help as many people as in previous years.
“It’s the worst year that I can remember,” said Ellen Gendreau, who has been the general assistance administrator for Caribou for 31 years. “We have to be very creative and try to find what we can.”
ACAP, the County’s main source of home heating assistance, expects to received the same amount of funding, $3.3 million, but that it won’t buy the same amount of fuel it once did, according to James Baillargeon, director of energy and housing services at ACAP.
Officials at the Salvation Army are scrambling to find funds for struggling families.
“It just kills me to say ‘no’ to anyone,” said Carol Hatt, a unit representative in Mars Hill.
To offer some relief to the heating crisis, U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe has asked the Bush Administration to release $20 million in emergency LIHEAP assistance.
Baillargeon’s office processes applications for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP. Already, $1.4 million have been given to about 2,400 households, Baillargeon said.
Officials from various county assistance agencies have been meeting to discuss the issue. Options are slim this year, according to Baillargeon.
Last year, some churches were able to step in after traditional funding sources, such as ACAP, were exhausted.
“Those pots are pretty much non-existent this year,” Baillargeon said.
An average benefit from ACAP is about $600, which with today’s prices of about $3 a gallon, equals about 200 gallons, or one tank of fuel oil. Most households use from 750-1,000 gallons annually, Baillargeon said.
ACAP is expecting to take nearly 6,500 applications this year. Three to four intake workers take the application and two other employees determine whether the applicant is eligible for the benefit. The actual payment is made by the Maine State Housing Authority, which can take up a month.
“When folks are looking at paying for oil, when you’re on a fixed income, you know it’s going to a problem,” Baillargeon said.
The effectiveness of any funds is slashed by 50 percent when the high costs of fuel oil are considered, according to Andy Michalka, who runs a low-income loan program called Helping Neighbors in Presque Isle.
“I just keep telling people I don’t have any money,” Michalka said Tuesday.
Helping Neighbors is funded by the United Way of Aroostook and private donations. It offers stop-gap loans to people finding themselves without electricity or fuel oil. While the agency has about $93,000 outstanding in loans, it has less than $100 now to help out the County’s needy, Michalka said.
“The situation is desperate, especially now with LIHEAP processing taking so long,” Michalka said.
A Caribou minister has taken a grass roots approach to the issue. About two weeks ago, The Rev. Max Soucia, community minister with the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Caribou started a “Pickle Jar Campaign” to collect funds from the public to help with heating bills.
Money that he’s collected by placing large pickle jars on store and restaurant counters has been forwarded to the Helping Hands for Children and Families agency in Presque Isle.
Soucia’s congregation has worked with local churches to collect funds over the years to help out with heating assistance through the Helping Hands program.
“This year we were all tapped out,” Soucia said, adding that his church’s community assistance fund was empty by the end of October.
Soucia, who also operates a café at the Northern Maine Regional Airport, said he got the idea of the “pickle jar” campaign, when he was working at the airport eatery.
“Everyone was out of money,” he said. “I was discouraged and I had just washed a pickle jar. As I was looking at it, I got an idea. A pickle jar for people in a pickle.”
The Salvation Army echoes the same sentiments. Hatt said that the agency’s funding has been severely cut. For example, Hatt said the best she could do for one person was $50.
“It almost makes me wish they’d fire me,” said Hatt.
The United Way of Aroostook has been meeting with regional agencies to determine what services are available. Although the agency has no dollars to contribute, it does conduct a special campaign, when the need arises, where people can give to help others.
“Just looking at the mere fact that we’re paying $1 more (this year) in fuel costs,” said Claudia Stevens, the UWA executive director. “We’re all looking at our fuel bills and saying ‘holy cow.’ “
Gendreau, Caribou’s general assistance director, explained that for a household to be eligible for help from the city, it can’t make more than $433 a month per person. These guidelines are issued by the state, Gendreau said.
“It doesn’t target the people who need it — the working poor,” said Gendreau, adding that calls for help start in the morning and continue until day’s end.
A Snowe spokesman said Monday that there has been no word on the senator’s request for additional funds.
“I cannot imagine the difficulty that this recent skyrocket in prices has had on you and your families,” said Snowe, in a prepared statement on a recent trip to discuss the issue with the People’s Regional Opportunity Program in Portland.
“In Maine, as you well know, heating is not a luxury; it is a statement,” she said.
Businesses wanting to begin a ‘pickle jar campaign,” may contact Soucia for a ready-made label through his e mail address at pqicafe@gmail.com or call him at the airport café. Those wanting to give through the United Way can forward their contributions to the agency at 480 Main St., 3rd Floor, Presque Isle, Me. 04769.
