By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor
Local assistance agencies began doling out federal heating assistance money last week, just in time for one of the coldest weeks of the winter.
Angie May, Coordinator of LIHEAP program for KCEOC in Knox County, is seeing a higher than normal number of people seeking heating help.
“It’s been very crowded. We’ve been seeing 225-250 a day as clients,” she said. “Normally it’s not over 200, at about 175, so we have seen an increase in people coming in.”
Low income residents can receive up to $400 in heating assistance through LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program). Applicants must bring a disconnect or past due heating bill notice (if applicable), their Social Security cards and proof of income. The help is for those who are about to lose their electric or gas heating service, or who are within four days of running out of wood, coal, propane or kerosene used to heat their homes.
May estimated her agency has spent about a fourth of its funding in the first few days of the LIHEAP program, and has given out $40,000 to $42,000 a day in assistance vouchers.
Sign-ups are taken between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily, but applicants start arriving at 5 a.m., May said. The office has been opening earlier to get applicants out of the cold at 7 a.m.
The Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency has, for the first time, moved its LIHEAP registration to the Williamsburg Civic Center.
Since Monday, Judy Rice, community services block grant and LIHEAP coordinator, said the agency has served 747 households, 335 of them in Whitley County. Applications are being taken from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily at the civic center.
“I think we’re right on track with last year,” Rice said of the number of applicants.
Community Action Agencies in the Tri-County will offer LIHEAP crisis assistance until all funding is exhausted. In Laurel County, call 864-9121. In Knox County, call 546-3152. In Whitley County, call 549-3933.
Theresa Marinaro, director of the Christian Shelter for the Homeless, has seen a few more people coming to the shelter due to the cold weather.
“We get a lot of people that prefer to live outdoors,” Marinaro said. “They come in when it’s cold like this. Out of 20 male beds, there are four or five people who will be here for a week or two and then they’ll go back.
“Some people prefer to be very independent. They tend to be as a rule a little bit older people and that’s just how they like to live. It’s very hard for us to wrap our minds around it when we’re used to going home to our nice warm couch and wrapping a blanket around us.”
These men often live in tents in rural parts of Laurel or surrounding counties, she said.
“It is a fact, and you can’t force adults to come in if they won’t do it,” Marinaro said, “but they do tend to come in, and if nothing else, we’ll get two or three a day that will come in for a warm cup of coffee.”
Bill Woodward with Emergency Christian Ministries in Williamsburg said his shelter stays busy year-round. He hasn’t seen much of an increase in those seeking shelter, but people are calling the non-profit with weather-related problems. He said he was calling local pastors Thursday to see if any congregation members could help a Corbin woman whose water pipes had burst from the cold.
