Low income residents have trouble making ends meet
As the weather seems to get colder and colder, some St. Charles Parish residents living paychec to paycheck are finding it hard to afford their heating bill and still have money left over for necessities such as food and medication.
Jasmine Berfect-Gillis, executive director of St. Charles Social Concerns, said that she has seen a rise in families not being able to pay electricity bills this winter.
“It’s much colder than it’s been in previous years,” Berfect-Gillis said. “We’re finding that most of the clients who come in have energy bills that have at least doubled.”
Entergy spokesperson Doug Rhodes said that energy prices have not gone up – people are just using more power.
“It’s just like in the summertime when the temperatures go up and everybody’s using their air conditioning,” Rhodes said. “It’s not so much that the price of electricity has gone up, just that the customer is using more electricity.”
Rhodes said that Entergy suggests customers set their thermostat to 68 degrees and use blankets to warm themselves. He said that while space heaters are dangerous and should be used with caution, they can effectively help to heat a small room.
Berfect-Gillis said that increased electricity bills are causing some people to scrimp on necessities that are especially important in the wintertime.
“We’re finding that amongst our elderly clients, it’s impeding on them being able to buy prescription medications and food,” she said.
Social Concerns does have a food pantry and a program to help those needing prescription medications, but it’s not a permanent solution – just a helping hand when families find themselves in a difficult situation.
“We look at this as trying to put a Band-Aid on the situation,” she said. “Hopefully with all of the assistance being awarded (to each family) at once, it frees up some money so that the next month they’ll be able to be self-sufficient.”
Berfect-Gillis said that in the past year, the client base at Social Concerns has changed drastically due to the economy and job market.
“Our primary client used to be a low-income, single-parent family. Now our primary client is a couple who was used to making $40,000 a year,” she said. “A lot of people are coming in now where a husband or mom has lost their job and now they cannot survive. The client base that we have is changing totally on a daily basis.”
Social Concerns’ food pantry is helping to feed some families, but they simply do not have enough for everyone.
“We are always in need of food donations – the cost of food has gone up,” Berfect-Gillis said. “Sometimes we have a basket-load of food that’s being donated and we appreciate it, but once we go through it all of it is expired. We can’t give that food away.”
The food pantry, located at 1601 Paul Maillard Road in Luling, accepts donations between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. and is currently in need of cereal, rice, grits and canned meats, such as Spam or tuna.
While they are always looking for more, Berfect-Gillis said there are multiple organizations that donate to the food bank on a regular basis.
“I would sincerely like to thank several of the churches who donate consistently, such as St. Mark (Catholic) Church and Boutte Assembly of God, as well as Hahnville High School and Mimosa Park Elementary,” she said.
Those interested can also sponsor a family’s utility bill by donating money to Social Concerns.
“We are always accepting donations and if someone is interested (in paying for a family’s utility bill), then I have no problem sending them a quarterly report telling them the statistics of who was helped by their donation without giving out personal information,” Berfect-Gillis said.
Call Social Concerns at (985)785-1216 to donate or to find out more information.
“We really are here to help and we’re really trying to capture as many people as we can because it’s a very difficult time for everybody,” she said.
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