Special to the Daily News

The Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency will begin the “crisis” portion of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) on Monday.

The program assists households which are encountering a heating crisis. During last year alone, more than 2,036 residents of Pineville received financial assistance and emergency services from the LIHEAP Crisis component.

“The deepening of cold winter weather, combined with rising utility costs, leaves many households unable to fully meet heating bills or purchase sufficient bulk fuel to keep their families safe and warm,” states a press release submitted by the Bell-Whitley CAA. “Your local community action partnership stands ready to help.”

Criteria and other established requirements must be met for a household to be considered in a home-heating crisis, qualifying them for the program. These include:

• The household has to be within four days of running out of fuel if bulk fuel (coal, fuel oil, propane, kerosene or wood) is the heat source;
• The household has received a past due/disconnect notice if natural gas or electric is the heat source; the household’s home heating cost are included as an undesignated portion of the rent;
• The household has received an eviction notice for non-payment of rent from the landlord.
• For all bulk fuels (wood, coal, propane, fuel oil or kerosene), verification of a crisis situation may be self-declared by the applicant;
• For natural gas and electric heated households, the applicant must present an appropriate disconnect notice from the vendor.

Applications will be taken at convenient community action partnership locations.

Applicants are encouraged to apply at the location nearest to them in their county of residence.

For those living in Bell County, the closest office is located in Pineville at 129 Pine Street.

For more information about the program, people may call Bell-Whitley at 337-3044.

LIHEAP is a statewide initiative sponsored by Community Action Kentucky in partnership with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.