By KATY SAVAGE
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At least 2,000 homes in Sullivan County receive fuel assistance every year through Southwestern Community Services and an executive with the organization not enough to meet the need.
Southwestern Community Services — a social services organization in Claremont and Keene -— receives around $3 million a year in federal funding, Chief Operating Officer Beth Daniels said.
The organization provides an average of $700 to each qualifying household in Sullivan and Cheshire counties, according to Daniels.
But that makes up only a portion of the costs needed to heat the average home, which uses around 800 gallons of fuel a year.
Daniels said SCS relies on churches, towns and other organizations to fill the needs it can’t.
Funding for the organization could be in danger.
This month, President Donald Trump proposed to eliminate the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program — through which a number of organizations receive fuel funding.
The program provided heating assistance to more than 28,000 people in New Hampshire last year.
Campaign For Home Director Michael Bracy called Trump’s proposal “nothing short of appalling” in a recent press release. He said funding for the program was “critical” for families.
Bracy’s organization is an advocate for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a statement that cutting it would be “dangerous and unacceptable.”
Shaheen recently announced a $250 million funding increase to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program despite Trump’s initiatives.
“The past few weeks of storms have demonstrated that heating assistance is an absolute necessity for many Granite State families forced to decide between paying for groceries and medications and heating their homes,” Shaheen said in a statement.
“For those individuals and households, LIHEAP makes a real difference in their ability to stay warm during our state’s coldest months,” she said.
Daniels hopes the funding bump will decrease the number of fuel emergencies Southwestern Community Services sees.
She said there are about 300 emergency situations each year because there is a lag in the fall when the agency has to wait for federal funding.
People can’t pay for heat and the organization has no money to give them.
“It wreaks havoc,” Daniels said. “It’s a stressor for the client. .It’s a stressor for the staff. You think about the kiddos in the house.”
Southwestern Community works with approximately 100 fuel providers, including Goodrich Oil in Newport.
“A lot of our elderly people have troubles making ends meet,” Goodrich Oil manager Lynn Osgood said.
SCS also works with a number of area service organizations, including Turning Points Network in Claremont, which helps around 850 male and female survivors of domestic abuse every year. Part of the help involves finding survivors new housing.
“It’s really difficult because most people can’t afford housing on their own,” said Turning Points Network Director Deborah Mozden. “It’s a matter of really getting creative (and) cobbling together resources.”
Shaheen recently helped secure a $23 million increase for the Energy Department’s Weatherization Assistance Program and a $5 million increase for the State Energy Program to meet some of the needs area organizations say are lacking.
Meanwhile, Southwestern Community is taking applications through the end of April.
Applicants qualify for fuel assistance based on income. A four-person home that makes up to $61,425 would qualify.
“This is that time where we’re really encouraging any families who haven’t applied yet to call us to schedule an appointment,” Daniels said.
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