For those that need help, the winter months can be a bitter time.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a program that helps to make it warmer for households that might be struggling. New Opportunities of Guthrie County Family Development Center Coordinator Rhonda Huggins says that LIHEAP is a one time payment for low income households to help make sure those homes can keep the heat on while it’s cold outside.

Huggins tells Raccoon Valley Radio that they are back to pre-Covid funding, so they don’t have as much funding as they had the last couple years, but they will try to help county residents any way that they can. Huggins mentions that LIHEAP is important because of rising costs.

“The heating assistance, you know, that is a big deal for a lot of people. Everybody’s bills are going up, I’m sure you’ve noticed that as well. So, any little bit that we can help them with on the heat bill, be it propane, or electric, or natural gas, whatever, people really, really need that right now.”

Huggins says the timeframe to get signed up for LIHEAP has already started, and will go until the end of April, so there is still plenty of time to get signed up. Contact her office at 641-747-3845, or stop by her office inside the Guthrie Center City Hall.