Warm weather is cold comfort
CVCAC warns of looming fuel crisis
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By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau - Published: November 27, 2009
BERLIN – Bracing for what they fear will be an "unprecedented home-heating fuel crisis," local officials are appealing for private donations as the Central Vermont Community Action Council burns through its limited emergency-fuel funds.
The council had to turn away 200 families earlier this month due to a lack of resources to assist the low-income residents. Donations are trickling in now, and a $75,000 windfall from the "Wheels for Warmth" event has temporarily bolstered reserves. But Hal Cohen, executive director of the CVCAC, says the agency will need at least $50,000 more in private donations to keep families warm this winter.
"What we know is going on in the community is that a lot of Vermonters live on the edge, and it only takes one emergency to make them fall off of that edge," Cohen said. "And the recession has made the situation even worse."
November is a particularly tough month for the agency. The crisis-fuel program, which uses state and
federal funds to serve people living at or below 150 percent of poverty, doesn't begin until Dec. 1. And hundreds of needy residents in the agency's three-county coverage area don't qualify for the federal LIHEAP program, which serves only those living below 125 percent of poverty.
"I think it's not on people's minds as much because we've had such a warm November," Cohen said. "But it does get cold at night, and people do need to heat their homes."
The council's emergency-fuel program can be used to help families who are above the 150-percent-of-poverty threshold but still struggling to make ends meet. Cohen said he anticipates a surge in need from Vermonters in that category. Requests for emergency-fuel assistance are up by a third over last year. At the rate they're going, Cohen said, the council's emergency-fuel funds will run dry by next week.
"Last year the big problem was that fuel prices were extremely high. This year, fuel prices have gone down, but the impact of the recession means people are not making the kind of income they made in the previous year," he says. "So we're seeing more people as a result of the economy, the people we call the working poor."
Seniors on fixed incomes, families with young children and people with disabilities are often the most vulnerable to increasing fuel costs.
"Sometimes you just can't swing it," says Sue Rossi, a longtime CVCAC crisis worker.
Rossi recently assisted a single mom who has two sons and who works fulltime.
"On paper, it looks like it might just barely work,," Rossi says. "But it's a fragile budget. Just one unexpected expense, like a car repair, and the money isn't there."
The council encourages people in need to call the Fuel Assistance Office at 1-800-479-6151 to find their local community action agency, or call 1-800-287-0589 for after hours heating fuel emergencies.
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