SWEPCO donates to Helping Hands for electric bills

Keith Honey from AEP SWEPCO presents a $6,000 check to Helping Hands board president Mary Helen Craig. The money will be used to help needy families pay their electric bills. Helping Hands of Kilgore received a much needed boost Monday when officials accepted a $6,000 check from AEP SWEPCO.

The donation, presented to Helping Hands board president Mary Helen Craig by Keith R. Honey, external affairs manager for the electric company, is part of AEP SWEPCO's "Neighbor To Neighbor" energy assistance program, which helps needy families pay their electric bills.

Susie Prater, Helping Hands manager, told Honey she already knows who the first recipients will be.

"We have a couple who came to us after the husband was fired for taking off work to go to the hospital because his wife was suffering from an acute illness," Prater explained. "She is unable to work and now he has lost his job."

Helping Hands, primarily known as the Kilgore Ministerial Alliance's "food pantry," also provides assistance to pay utility bills for residents who are unable to do so.

According to Scott McCloud, SWEPCO's public information officer, Neighbor To Neighbor is a year-round emergency relief fund available to SWEPCO customers in the company's service territory of north and east Texas, western Arkansas and northwest Louisiana.

SWEPCO customers can make contributions to Neighbor To Neighbor by mailing in a one-time donation with their electric bill and mentioning the program or by including additional money with their monthly electric bill. Contributions are tax deductible and contributors receive, for tax purposes, an annual report of contributions made during the year.

Neighbor To Neighbor is administered for the company through 14 designated community action agencies, such as Helping Hands, and 100 percent of the funds collected by SWEPCO go back into the community. These agencies, not SWEPCO, determine who receives assistance, McCloud said.

SWEPCO contributes $130,000 to the program each summer when the demand for funds is at its highest.

Now in its 16th year, more than $1.8 million in Neighbor To Neighbor funds have been generated from SWEPCO and more than 10,000 of its customers to help some 17,500 families.

SWEPCO customers who wish to participate can call the company's 24-hour customer solutions phone number — 1-888- 216-3523 — and request a brochure and sign-up card.