Fuel Fund

The late Victorine Q. Adams helped black politicians challenge Baltimore's white establishment in the 1950s, became the first black woman on the City Council in the 1960s and founded one of the nation's first nonprofits to help people pay energy bills in the 1970s. But the Baltimore organization that represents her legacy isn't assisting anybody this winter. The Victorine Q. Adams Fuel Fund has suspended business, the result of a bitter disagreement with its main financing source, the Fuel Fund of Maryland.

The Fuel Fund: a pioneer in aiding low-income customersA recent letter stated that BGE's Customer Assistance Plan has been in place since 1994 ("Energy deregulation won't shred safety net for poor customers, Dec. 13). As a retired BGE employee, who was involved in establishing The Fuel Fund and BGE's low-income assistance efforts, I would like to clarify that the program was actually launched in 1979.It was the first program of its kind in the country and has since served as a model for many similar programs.

Energy deregulation won't shred safety net for poor customersThe Sun's recent article "BGE tightens winter-turnoff policy" (Nov. 28) missed some salient points about the strength of the safety net already in place through the Maryland Energy Assistance Program (MEAP), a federally-funded state program, and the Fuel Fund of Maryland.The two programs combine to help nearly 70,000 low-income families annually.The Fuel Fund of Maryland works closely with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. in Central Maryland, where the utility donates $1 million in energy each year to assist low-income customers.

MANY organizations sound as if they are doing good. People who give them money want to know they really are.But many nonprofit organizations burst into life on zeal, not sophistication.Enter the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations, with some 915 members statewide.The association has hammered out 55 "Standards for Excellence" in eight categories against which organizations can judge themselves.The standards have to do with defining the mission and making the program effective; board oversight; conflicts of interest; human resource policies; honest and prudent financial management; openness to fund-raising integrity; and public education.

ELECTRICITY WAS off at the Feick home in Gambrills last week, not because of the wrath of Hurricane Floyd, but because of failure to pay the utility bill. One of four brothers apparently lit a candle for light late at night. Their house caught fire. Two of the brothers, ages 5 and 10, died.The news was gut-wrenching -- and gave people more reason to pay heed when the Fuel Fund of Central Maryland solicits donations this winter.Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., after warning the family twice about failure to pay its bill, cut power to the home last Wednesday.

Supportive education is a much better termWith 17 years in special education in Chicago and Baltimore, I have learned that words can hurt. I refer to two words: special education.It has been my experience to witness that in city schools, special education students are labeled retarded, but in suburban schools are called learning disabled. On a job application, these two words are doom for any city student.I would like to suggest to the new board of school t commissioners -- whose job it is to improve schools to fit our children for future jobs and responsibilities in life -- expunge these two words and replace them with the words supportive education.

Florence "Flora" Pearce, 72, preschool employeeFlorence "Flora" Pearce, a Cockeysville homemaker and a former preschool employee, died Wednesday of cancer at her home. She was 72.The former Florence Merryman graduated from Towson High School in 1943. She was an Army Signal Corps inspector until 1946, when she joined Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. as a billing clerk.In 1948, she married James Roland Pearce and was a homemaker until 1963, when she went to work at a preschool in Reisterstown.

IT HAPPENS every winter. Family members trying not to freeze in their home use a kerosene space heater, or plug an electrical heater into an already overloaded outlet, or decide it is less expensive to use the stove to heat the house than turn on the furnace.Those unsafe practices spark a fire and people die. Four generations of the same family were killed that way in a deadly blaze last weekend. Great-grandmother, grandmother, aunt, child -- all dead. Six others inside escaped. Ironically, they had a smoke detector in the home, but its battery chamber was empty.

Hoping to keep Howard County's low-income residents warm this winter, local social service officials will hold a fund-raising rally today for the county's Fuel Fund -- a supplement to the federally funded Maryland Energy Assistance Program, which has been hit hard by government cutbacks."

Keep our schools open on election daysAnother election day with schools closed; administrators, faculty, students vacationing, while a dismal 25 percent of the registered voters voted. Why? Who can answer the question?It is my opinion that election day would offer a wonderful opportunity for our community to observe education in progress. Let the voters walk through our schools, observe our children learning, teachers teaching. It can only serve to benefit all concerned.Our children miss too many days of school.

The late Victorine Q. Adams helped black politicians challenge Baltimore's white establishment in the 1950s, became the first black woman on the City Council in the 1960s and founded one of the nation's first nonprofits to help people pay energy bills in the 1970s. But the Baltimore organization that represents her legacy isn't assisting anybody this winter. The Victorine Q. Adams Fuel Fund has suspended business, the result of a bitter disagreement with its main financing source, the Fuel Fund of Maryland.

Even before the mercury fell and the economy tanked, thousands more Marylanders were seeking help with utility bills than in years past. "We've had an upswing since probably last April," said Peggy Vick, director of family and volunteer services for the Salvation Army. Given the rising costs of food and fuel, "as soon as the BGE rates went up, people ... were hard-pressed in order to pay their bills." But help from state programs, nonprofits and charities is available for struggling families who meet income guidelines.

Maryland families, already struggling with high gasoline and food costs, will face a major new energy challenge within a few months. The price of home heating oil, used by nearly 38,000 low-income families here, is likely to be more than a third higher than it was last winter. Right now, it's more than twice the $2-a-gallon price of three years ago. The increased cost compounds the problems of many low- and moderate-income families who are struggling to pay overdue utility bills and see no relief in sight.

A little nervously, Marquita Nelson stood at the lectern in front of two dozen other women at the Caroline Center in East Baltimore and delivered what amounted to a testimonial. "This has helped me a lot, it really has," said Nelson, 23, who plans to graduate today from a training program at the center that will certify her as a nursing assistant. Nelson was not referring to the 15-week nursing course she has just completed, but rather to unrelated classes at the center about how to save money by conserving energy at home.

Electric bills are higher than ever. The economy is slowing. What a great time for Baltimore Gas and Electric not to renew a big cash grant for the Fuel Fund of Maryland, which helps low-income families pay energy bills and whose reserves have fallen by 80 percent. "We were trying to get additional monies for this year because of the greater need," says Richard B. Phelps III, president of the fund's board. "We haven't been able to garner the funds that we were hoping to get." BGE blames it on a misunderstanding by the Fuel Fund.

Frances Urban knows the value of a penny. When she was growing up in Wakefield, Mass., one of the coins could buy her four caramels at the candy store. Now she and other residents of Basilica Place, a senior residence run by Catholic Charities of Baltimore, are collecting cents to contribute to the Fuel Fund of Maryland. The nonprofit helps families pay their heating and home utility bills. "Pennies make dollars," Urban, 73, said her mother always told her. The demand for assistance has been very high given recent increases in the price of gas and electricity and the corresponding effect on the prices of other consumer goods.

The record prices Marylanders paid to keep cool last summer will soon give way to eye-popping winter heating bills - no matter what the fuel. Households heating with electricity can expect bills to be about 50 percent more than a year ago - assuming no adjustment for weather variances - as a result of Baltimore Gas & Electric's rate increase in June. The federal government projected last week that average U.S. homes heating with natural gas would pay 10 percent more this winter, while those burning fuel oil could expect to pay 22 percent more.

In all the wrangling, negotiating and back-patting, one point seemed overlooked when the 2007 General Assembly mandated that Baltimore-area government contractors pay their employees a "living wage" of $11.30 an hour. Can someone actually live on that? Barely, says Sandy Johns Jr., who just moved up from $11 to $12 an hour and is therefore more qualified than most to weigh in. He takes in just shy of $25,000 a year to cover expenses for himself, his wife and two young sons. The family sticks to a rigid budget.

Baltimore City Council President Sheila Dixon believes that she has a better way for Constellation Energy Group's chief executive to spend his money. Constellation chief Mayo Shattuck is promising to give $5 million to $10 million to his family's charitable foundation if Constellation is allowed to merge with a Florida utility. Dixon said yesterday that Shattuck should donate the money to the Fuel Fund of Maryland, which helps low-income residents pay their gas and electricity bills. She was set to introduce a resolution at last night's council meeting asking Shattuck to donate to the fuel fund "so that the funds directly benefit those who will be most negatively affected by the expected 72 percent increase in the cost of energy," the draft resolution stated.

Don't even tell Evelyn Harlee about the latest electricity plan. Don't tell her that it'll save her money. No, the 45-year-old East Baltimore resident says, she won't be fooled into believing that the phase-in of rate increases will save her any money. "I'm not falling for it because I can add," Harlee says, soaking her nails at a salon on Monument Street in East Baltimore. "And I know about interest rates spread over a long period of time. They tried to pull the wool over our eyes with this plan, but they ain't fooling me."