A number of local organizations are making sure residents in need are staying warm over Christmas and beyond.
For the fourth year in a row, Linking Hands-House of Lazarus and Community Food Share are running its ‘Heat for the Holidays’ Program, which assists family households in need of heat throughout Christmas and winter.
With help from Winchester BMR, the program sees skids of Eco fire logs brought to families to help them get through a very stressful time of year.
Owner of Winchester BMR Ken Boje says since the program’s inception, the demand has grown over four times.
“I think at Christmas time you also get a lot more pressure and stress financially, it’s different things for different people,” Boje said. “This may be one of those things that helps take that burden off over that time frame. Hence, ‘Heat for the Holidays’.”
In the program’s first year, eight one-ton skids of Eco fire logs were given to families in desperate need for heating.
Then during the 2018/19 campaign 28 families were assisted throughout the winter season, with 24 skids delivered the week prior to Christmas and 4 more in January and February of 2019.
Another 43 family households got a hand last year, and this year, Boje says they expect to help 50 family households.
“We deliver through west of Kemptville, Prescott, Morrisburg, Newington, Winchester – so I mean, we’re covering a fairly wide area,” he said. “By Christmas, we expect we’ll have delivered between 30 and 40 skids of firewood.”
Monday is the final day for pre-Christmas deliveries with 32 plus families registered so far for the program this year.
Boje says he’s proud to be able to give back to the community, especially during Christmas.
“We’ve always felt it’s part of our responsibility to give back to the community and over the years, the community has supported us well and it’s the least we can do to give back or pay it forward,” Boje said.