December 1, 2015
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The United Way of Bruce Grey has used 40 per cent of its utility assistance funding with another eight months to go in this reporting year.
The agency switched to reporting on a July-to-June format to more accurately capture the impact of a single winter, says executive director Francesca Dobbyn who just released the numbers for the first four months of the new reporting year for the utility assistance program.
From July 1 to Nov. 30, the United Way provided almost $105,000 in support to more than 355 people, with 266 requests.
“The program used to slow down over the summer,”says Dobbyn, “but the last two winters: one really long, and last year really cold, has impacted people’s ability to catch up on their utility bills in the summer.”
Households are only permitted to access each sub-fund once per calendar year, and many households are needing support within an eight-month window, rather than the permitted 12 months.
Unrestricted funds are now being used to keep people connected to all forms of utility, whereas in the past there was sufficient funding to meet those needs within the restricted fund, Dobbyn says. Restricted funds include money from the utility companies themselves only to be used for that utility company's customers.
Additional funds paid:
“These are the exceptions, families without any other resource who have exhausted other supports and without the United Way stepping in, would be disconnected from their utilities,” says Dobbyn.
For the 2014-15 utility program, the United Way provided $260,579 in support to 579 requests.
“While only four months into the new cycle, we’ve used 40 per cent of what we used last year, when comparing year-over-year,” Dobbyn says. "At this rate, the United Way needs to raise an additional $55,000 on top of the $155,000 that would match what was distributed in 2014-15."
The following is a distribution chart, outlining the support through the utility assistance program from July 1 to Nov. 31, 2015.
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