More families in Grey Bruce will be able to keep warm this winter thanks to Union Gas and the United Way.
The utility has given the local United Way 30 thousand dollars for its annual Winter Warmth program that helps low income families pay their utilities bills.
Executive Director Francesca Dobbyn says it’s a significant hike from last year when they initially received 75 hundred dollars — with an additional 12 thousand when the program ran out of funds later in the season.
Dobbyn says their program allows qualifying families to be eligible for up to 450 dollars a season to help pay their utility bills — not just from Union Gas but also Westario and Hydro One.
However the news isn’t so good on the Hydro one front.
Dobbyn says their entire grant of 95 hundred dollars to help families with their electricity bills was gone in the first eight hours of its launch on Tuesday.
She blames the current economic climate.
Dobbyn says they had nine families on a waiting list — and by the end of the day — the money was gone.
This is the first year Hydro One has contributed to the Winter Warmth program.
Anyone interested in more information on qualifying for the program can simply call the United Way’s community info hot line at 2-1-1.
Dobbyn says the 2-1-1 operators will be handling the initial intakes this year.