Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) announced its program that provides emergency heating assistance to those in need will run through February 6.
KUB’s Project Help is funded through community donations and operated through partnerships with Food City, WVLT-TV, WIVK, Knoxville News Sentinel, and Home Federal Bank.
Help a neighbor in need this winter by donating to KUB's Project Help program, which provides emergency heating assistance. Our 2024 Project Help fundraising campaign begins today and runs through February 6. Find ways about how you can help donate at https://t.co/1zgUWqn9GU. pic.twitter.com/XSrHYEodLO
— Knoxville Utilities Board (@KnoxKUB) January 3, 2024
Project Help provides electricity, natural gas, propane, heating oil, wood, or coal for families and seniors across KUB’s service territory that may be experiencing job loss, illness, injury, disability, or struggling with the rising cost of living.
The program is administered by the Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee (CAC), which coordinates the assistance for eligible community members. A total of 100 percent of donations made to the program are sent to the CAC for purchase of heating for those in need.
“Project Help depends solely on community and individual contributions,” KUB Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer Tiffany Martin said in a statement. “Thanks to generous donors, last year Project Help was able to help over 250 families stay safe and warm through the winter.”
“During the cold winter months, many of our friends and neighbors desperately need assistance,” Food City Vice President of Marketing Kevin Stafford added in a statement. “Project Help is one way you can help those in need right here in our own region.”
For more information on how to donate to or receive assistance from Project Help, visit https://www.kub.org/about/community/project-help.
KUB’s program comes as the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association (NEADA) predicts home heating costs this winter will “remain unaffordable for millions of lower income families.”
“Prices for home heating this coming winter will remain at near record levels for home heating due to an expected colder winter except for the states in the western part of the nation,” NEADA wrote in a recent press release, estimating the overall prices of electricity, propane, and heating oil will rise from last winter.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Knoxville Utilities Board Truck” by Knoxville Utilities Board.
