$2.6 Billion for LIHEAP…and my wife’s toes.

 My wife hates to have cold toes at night. Her warming endeavors are quite entertaining, like soaking her toes in warm water, using bright orange hunter’s socks with heat packs, or her perennial favorite…the hair dryer (this is NOT a recommendation that you do this!). For me, I’m fine with a little chill in my toes.

The fact that my wife and I have the option of having this conversation—different ways to stay warm—puts us in a privileged position, a position we need to be grateful for and not take for granted. This winter season there will be many who will live without heat…at all. No warm water. No orange hunter’s socks. No hair dryers.

Thanks to the Department of Health and Human Services, low income citizens of the U.S. will be able to keep warmer this winter. The HHS recently announced that $2.6 Billion dollars will be distributed to states as part of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) (http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/10/20091022a.html). Along with the receipt of these funds will also come the required reporting and accountability.

For our ClientTrack customers who use LIHEAP funds to provide their services, we wanted to simply remind you that we’ve got you covered. As a ClientTrack customer, you can be confident that you are collecting the correct information you need for creating the required LIHEAP reports. You can help provide months of comfort to hundreds or thousands of low income individuals and families, and account for it all at the touch of a button…in about 30 seconds…a lot quicker than the time it takes my wife to warm her toes. Lots of people helped, and an extremely simplified way to report it all…that’s something to feel warm about.

We hope that the coming months will be successful for your organization and comfortable for the people you serve. Thank you for the service you provide our communities.