Effort heats up to provide aid for cold weather

The Washington County Food & Fuel Assistance Alliance held its third meeting at the Three Angels Seventh Day Adventist Church in Whiting on September 18. The ad hoc committee, with representatives from churches, service agencies, food pantries and citizens from across the county, meets to discuss ways to help those who will be in need during the coming winter. The group is focused on finding practical activities that can give aid immediately, while also working to coordinate efforts and plan for long-term solutions to problems of poverty in the area.

Led by the Rev. Gini King of the Centre Street Church in Machias, the group focused on a proposed cooperative for purchasing heating oil for the coming winter. Preliminary discussions had found six to eight churches interested in participating, involving purchases of around 40,000 gallons of oil. King said that "fuel companies are really wanting to help low-income families" and that the co-op could provide a mechanism that would benefit both buyers and sellers. The plan is for churches, food pantries and similar groups to join the co-op, which will have a $20 fee to help cover administrative costs, signing up to buy oil for the church building, parsonages or other allied buildings, as well as the oil that is provided to community members in need, and that the group will negotiate lowered prices from oil dealers. A number of churches represented at the meeting immediately joined, and arrangements were made for pastors and volunteers to contact other churches that might be interested.

Lynda Brushett, a cooperative development specialist from New Hampshire, spoke about how the fuel-buying cooperative could operate, as well as laying out a vision of how it could, in the future, expand both its mission and its membership. "Cooperatives are the original socially responsible business," she began. "And I put the emphasis on business because if the business part doesn't work, it's no good for anything." She said that the co-op's main function now would be organizing the buyers and working as the intermediary for buyers and oil dealers. "Take a map and organize the buyers by location. You will probably be dealing with a number of dealers because there is not one dealer that covers" the whole county. Next, "maximize the number of buyers in each area, and see which companies are able to offer what benefits in each area." She emphasized that the fuel companies "work on a small margin. They want to help, but they are not making a huge amount of money, so they are limited in what they can do, too." The group should look at ways that the needs of members and the companies align. "Companies look at volume, distance and the cash flow. The more you can do for them, the better they can work with you." Brushett also discussed possibilities for the future, with church members, businesses, homeowners, even municipal governments included in the co-op, diversifying the products the coop works on beyond heating fuel, and developing a formal structure with full-time staff for the cooperative, somewhere down the road.

Next on the agenda was the effort to help winterize homes. "The best strategy for fuel saving is to winterize homes," said King. Deb Eckart of the local University of Maine Cooperative Extension office informed the meeting members that she would soon receive Keep ME Warm kits from the state. Though the exact contents had not been detailed, she believed that they would contain plastic for temporary storm windows, a variety of caulking material and sealing tape to close off drafts and some other material. Nearly the entire meeting groaned when she said, "I'm expecting 125 kits to come in C for the whole county." Additional kits, without the plastic sheeting, would be available at a cost of $19. A representative of the Washington Hancock Community Agency (WHCA), which distributes LIHEAP fuel assistance, said that her office had had around 500 requests for the kits from clients, in both counties. After a short discussion, the group decided to distribute the kits that were available through food pantries and churches, with the advantage that those places could also supply volunteers to help with installation, as many who needed the kits were thought to be unlikely to install the material themselves.

WHCA is also conducting a study to determine the need for a homeless shelter to serve Washington County, and those present were asked to contact Tim King at WHCA with any information about homeless persons they knew of or had served. Several of those present were aware of homeless individuals who are living in cars or other vehicles.

The state head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Agency, invited to attend by Senator Kevin Raye, spoke briefly. He said that there were programs available to provide benefits to food pantries, including equipment like refrigerators and freezers or trucks to collect or distribute food. Funds are not available from his agency for operating costs of the pantries, however.

Senator Raye described the benefits that were available as a result of Governor Baldacci's decision to provide about $12 million in additional heating aid. "Although I believe the governor should have convened the legislature to provide more comprehensive assistance, there is $12 million available. Statewide, there is $4.2 million for LIHEAP; $3.25 million in emergency funding starting September 1 to help those with fuel emergencies; $2 million for weatherization funding; $1 million to clean, tune and repair furnaces so they will operate more efficiently and use less fuel; and 2,000 Keep ME Warm kits for the entire state."

Three fundraising events, to help with fuel assistance, were listed: a Whiting Food Pantry fundraiser at the Cobscook Community Learning Center in Trescott on Sunday, September 28, from noon until 3 p.m.; a Halloween event at the Maine Seacoast Mission on Friday, October 24; an event at the Downriver Theater on Friday and Saturday, November 7 and 8; and a Christmas concert at the Cobscook Community Learning Center on Sunday, December 7. The next meeting of the Washington County Food & Fuel Assistance Alliance is scheduled for Wednesday, November 12, at the Three Angels Seventh Day Adventist Church in Whiting, and representatives of local churches or of groups involved in fuel assistance, as well as members of the public, are welcome and encouraged to attend.