High fuel oil costs and harsh winter strain aid agencies

The people who work to bring fuel, food and other resources to those most in need are feeling as pressed to the wire as the people they are helping. At a recent meeting coordinated by the Washington County Food and Fuel Alliance, over 20 representatives from agencies, food pantries and religious organizations discussed the level of need and the resource crisis they are facing. The goal of the meeting was to find solutions, such as the creation of warming centers in local buildings where people can congregate for a few hours or the building of educational services for self‑reliance, but in order to begin the search for solutions the problems and concerns needed to be aired first.
Wendy Harrington, the meeting's facilitator from the Cherryfield office of Maine Sea Coast Mission, pointed to a two-inch thick folder sitting in front of her. "There are the people we have said no to."
Susan Farley of Washington Hancock County Agency said, "I'm getting 100 to 200 calls a day. During the summer I got slammed -- we were the only place to give out funds for electric bills. The sheer volume -- we're seeing a lot more people who have never applied for assistance. They don't even know where to start."
Three years ago people began to recognize that a crisis was forming when fuel costs escalated to alarming levels. Mike Hinerman, director of the Washington County Emergency Management Agency, said that people back then "had some reserves, a little savings." Fuel costs went back down, the winter was a bit warmer than usual, but, Hinerman explained, each following year was a little bit worse until there were no reserves left. "It's a cascading issue event. The working poor are not eligible for aid, but costs are going up."

Increased need for food and fuel aid
Hinerman and Machias Food Pantry volunteer Helen Vose were concerned about home fires caused by attempts to keep warm. "Alternative heating is dangerous," Hinerman said. Heating with a stove or kerosene heater, or mixing fuels can all cause carbon monoxide poisoning. At the very least, he asked, "Do people have access to carbon monoxide detectors?"
"A lot of people burn kerosene around here," Vose told the others. The price is higher than that of heating oil. This kind of financial pressure on homeowners is affecting the food pantry. "Of 51 calls for fuel help, 26 of those were for kerosene." The pantry itself served 55 people or more a week last year. "This year it's 92. It's all age groups. They're coming in every day. Pretty soon we're not going to be able to help."
In a separate interview, Colin Windhorst of the Greater Eastport Ecumenical Churches Association (GEECA) said that the Eastport‑based Labor of Love Food Pantry has doubled its fuel assistance from 14 vouchers last year to 28 vouchers this year, with the heating season still in full swing. "It's gone up dramatically. It's another barometer of need." He noted that the food pantry is now supplying 30 to 40 bags of emergency staples per month, compared to 12 or fewer for last year, and the families served on a regular basis have gone from 140 to about 200 a month. The pantry has also started a new senior commodities program that serves 24 to 30 seniors with a monthly bag of staples, but the sign‑up sheet has a waiting list for twice that.

Staggered LIHEAP funding
Identified during the food and fuel alliance's meeting was the problem created this year by the staggered funding provided by the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Maine expects to receive a total of about $51.7 million this year, but only about half has been received so far. The total amount is about $1 million less than last year. Aid last year broke down to about $850 per person; this year it will be about $830. The two amounts are close, but as Joe Perkins, director of Community and Family Services of Washington Hancock Community Agency, pointed out, fuel costs are higher, it's colder than last year and the way the funds are being distributed has "caused big problems. Playing around with LIHEAP is going to cause a real trickle‑down effect on the people who can least afford it."
Deirdre Grant of Senator Susan Collin's office told the others, "The delegation recognized this. The continuing resolution that was passed protected funding from being cut." Food and fuel alliance coordinator Gini King noted that no one knows when the additional funds will arrive for use at the local level.
But behind the LIHEAP demand is the economic recovery, or the lack of it in Washington and Hancock counties. Perkins said, "There've been more applications taken this year than ever. I thought last year was bad." Over 7,000 families have applied for fuel assistance. "There's no recovery up here." Sustainability was also raised -- the question of how credible and justified it is for someone to receive fuel assistance for 30 years. "Are we creating entitlement?" Harrington asked. However, all agreed that even if 10% of assistance seekers abuse the system, erring on the side of helping is necessary because quite often a child or infant would suffer if aid were withdrawn.
Al May, public health official with the Maine Center for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services, noted the importance of education. Wearing layers of clothing indoors, putting up food for winter consumption, closing off parts of a house to conserve heat -- all are methods that older residents were by and large using, but the younger generation, he said, seems to lack these common sense approaches to helping themselves. Funding someone's fuel assistance for 30 years, he reiterated, is not a sustainable solution.
Resources the group agreed to work on are: a resource guide for communities to use when assessing a building's potential as a warming center; and a quick‑look reference sheet for churches and others to give out to those seeking assistance for the first time.
The food and fuel alliance will host a meeting on Tuesday, March 15, to continue the discussion about long‑term solutions to the fuel assistance shortages. The public is welcome. For more information, visit <www.centrestreetchurch.org/WCFFA>