By SANDY McGEE

WOONSOCKET — The winter blast on Thursday resulted in frozen hands and feet for many residents outside in the cold, but two area families reportedly felt the freeze inside.

Rosa, who advocates for individuals requiring heating and other assistance at the Family Support Center, said she worked throughout the night on Thursday and on Friday in an attempt to have the utilities at these two homes turned back on.

“The weather and timing was tough,” Rosa said.

Officials at Family Resources said the two families are not alone. Despite a statewide winter moratorium, which prohibits utility shutoffs from Nov. 1 to April 15, officials at Family Resources said several families have lost necessary utilities even after the November deadline.

“There are still customers who are being shut off,” said Darlene B. Magaw, director of the Family Support Division and Early Intervention at Family Resources.

Magaw said utilities at the homes of more than 30,000 families were shut off this year. According to Henry Shelton of the George Wiley Center, utilities at approximately 30,088 households in the state, a record number, were shut off from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30.

A spokesperson for National Grid said utility shutoffs occur only after a long process, which includes a public hearing and many notices sent to the consumer.

“We only shut off gas customers who are very, very delinquent in their bills,” said David Graves, a spokesperson for National Grid.

The Family Support Center at Family Resources is working to counter these shutoffs by finding families the means to pay this year’s rising heating bills. 

Jean Crouch, manager of the Family Support Center at Family Resources, said she estimated assisting 100 people in the last month with heating assistance, but the number may be much higher.

“The increase of people applying (for heating assistance) is amazing,” Crouch said.

Individuals applying for assistance are not just unemployed or people with disabilities, but the working poor, said Rosa.

“The largest number of people without oil don’t necessarily meet the requirements,” Crouch said. “They may be low-income, but they are not low enough to meet the guidelines.”

Why are so many people in need of assistance this year? “It’s a combination of higher costs for housing, utilities, oil, gasoline and the people are losing RIteCare and other services,” Rosa said.

“One parent lost childcare and needed that to go back to work,” Magaw said.

“It sends them over a snowbank,” Rosa said in regards to people falling behind in bills when emergency situations occur, such as losing childcare or needing to repair the family vehicle.

Heating assistance for many families is available through several avenues, according to officials at Family Resources, including the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, the Salvation Army Fund and the Citizen’s Energy Fund, which offers 100 free gallons of oil to qualifying residents throughout the Northeast, said Rosa. The Family Support Center provides direction to these programs.

The center also offers rental assistance through the Emergency Housing Assistant Program, which partners with the Salvation Army, and the Emergency Shelter Grant Program, which helps with utilities and rent. Other assistance comes in the form of gasoline for vehicles, medical prescriptions and clothing.

According to officials at Family Resources, the Family Support Center started slowly offering basic commodities, such as food and clothing, but has broadened in recent years to provide programs with long-term goals of helping the individual become economically self-sufficient.

“The Family Support Center is the welcome mat for Family Resources,” Magaw said. “Our goal is to move them (individuals) along the goal of becoming self-sufficient. We really want to move people forward.” Family Resources is also seeking volunteers and donations for the annual Red Kettle Drive, which is under the direction of its partner, the Salvation Army.

“It (volunteering) is a wonderful family activity,” Magaw said. “Ninety percent of the drive goes right back into the community.”

According to Family Resources, 90 percent of the funds collected from the annual kettle drive, supports families with utility, rent and other assistance. Last year’s kettle drive provided utility assistance to 92 individuals and prescription assistance to 32 people, according to Family Resources.

The traditional red kettles and bell ringers will collect through Dec. 24 at three area locations, including outside the Stop & Shop in North Smithfield and Shaw’s supermarket and Wal-Mart, both on Diamond Hill Road in Woonsocket.

“I like to think of the Salvation Army as a net that doesn’t let people slip through the cracks,” Magaw said. “We think of it as homeless prevention.”

The Family Support Center is working to prevent homelessness, which, according to the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, is at an all-time high throughout the state.

In 2005 to 2006, Rhode Island shelters served 6,889 people and, during the last four years, one quarter of all individuals staying at a shelter were under age 13, according to the coalition.

Families living in Woonsocket and North Smithfield are eligible for assistance from the Family Support Center on a case-by-case basis, according to Family Resources officials. Individuals are required, when applying, to bring proof of income, photo identification, Social Security number, birth certificates, utility bills and a rental receipt or lease.

“These things tell us a lot about the family’s composition,” Rosa said. “That’s how we find the needs for the whole family.”

Services available at the Family Support Center include case management, service referrals and assistance with rent, security deposits, utility, heating, food, medical prescriptions, clothing and furniture. The center also offers holiday baskets and toy donation programs.

The Family Support Center at Family Resources is open Monday through Friday from 9 to 11:30 a.m. The center’s afternoon hours are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 1 to 4 p.m.; and on Thursdays from 1 to 6.

The center is only open from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month.

For more information about available services or to speak with a family advocate, visit Family Resources at 245 Main St. or call (401) 766-0900.