Low-income families can apply for home heating assistance over the phone this year with the New Opportunities Guthrie County Family Development Center.

The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is federally-funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which provides a one-time payment to the resident’s heating utility. Homeowners and renters within the federal poverty guidelines are eligible, and applications are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis from now until April 30th. Guthrie County New Opportunities Coordinator Rhonda Huggins shares how the application process has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, “The state has mandated that we no longer do a face-to-face appointment with our clients so right now we are doing a phone appointment, they can email all of their documentation, they can fax it, they can make copies and we’ve got a little dropbox now outside our door. They can drop stuff off and we will work their application that way, but I just want people to know that they do not need to make an appointment and come in we can just do it over the phone and take care of things.”

Contact Huggins about receiving assistance at 641-747-3845 or rhuggins@newopp.org.