Spring 2017: Letter From the Executive Director
FROM WASHINGTON D.C. TO OREGON NEIGHBORHOODS
Over the past weeks, you have likely heard discussions about the federal budget. Our friends at Meals on Wheels, for example, have gotten a lot of attention in both local and national media.
Closer to our own mission, however, is a proposed cut on the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the national social services program for utility bill payment assistance.
LIHEAP is funded each year by Congress. While similar in scope to our work at Oregon Energy Fund, LIHEAP is a benefit program for the chronically poor; our own focus, on the other hand, is supporting those in financial crisis – those that just need a little help so that they can continue to stand up on their own.
Cuts to LIHEAP will not directly affect the operations of Oregon Energy Fund, since we are not funded by government dollars. Nevertheless, budget cuts of this magnitude would unquestionably increase the need for our funds, as an estimated 60,000 households statewide would be affected and Oregon Energy Fund would be one of the few resources remaining to lend a hand.
Regardless of where you find yourself on the spectrum of politics these days, we want our supporters to know that the money you send to us goes directly to your neighbors in need and will continue to do so. One of the foundations of our longstanding history is the value we place on neighbors helping neighbors – community members supporting their own. Why? Because it’s the Oregon way. And this is why your donation matters even more today than perhaps ever before. It’s why our work to ensure that Oregonians in crisis can remain healthy, warm, and housed must continue.
Thank you for your support.
–Brian Allbritton, Executive Director