Help keep Citgo's low-income heating assistance program going this winter!

by Leigh Graham · 2009-01-05 10:37:00 UTC
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Citizen's Energy Corporation, the three decade old program that provides low- or no-cost heating assistance to elderly and poor households in the U.S., announced today Citgo's suspension of its free heating oil program, which it has administered through Citizen's since 2005.

Citgo, the national Venezuelan oil company, has provided free oil to "hundreds of thousands of low-income households" in the last three years.  The company is citing declining oil prices and the global economic crisis as the reasons behind the program's suspension.  And you thought it was just smaller charities taking a hit during this brutal economic period.

Home heating is the biggest single home energy cost - low-income households spend more than one-third of their annual energy costs on heating their homes during the winter.  One survey revealed that 70% of the 35 million or so low-income households in the U.S. were cutting back on food to cover the cost of heating their homes.

Citizens Chairman Joe Kennedy is urging past Citgo recipients to contact Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and ask that he not suspend this vital program.  If you would like to contact President Hugo Chavez Frias, you can reach his office via an email to the Venezuelan Embassy in the U.S., or at the following address: Palacio de Miraflores, Avenida Urdaneta, Caracas 1010.

I urge you from the chilly climes of Boston not to let this essential program disappear!

Leigh Graham
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