Blue Ridge Electric Donates $25,000 in Crisis Funds to Help Local Residents in Need
For Immediate Release
Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Corporate Communications, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383 ext. 3213; Pager:1-800-471-1323; or E-mail: Renee Whitener
Lenoir, North Carolina (February 1, 2001) –Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation is donating a total of $25,000 across its service territory this week as part of a special effort to help meet the critical needs of local residents due to extremely cold weather and rising energy bills.
Checks were presented to local helping agencies whose staff qualifies recipients and administers the funds.
The emergency relief funds are to help local residents needing financial assistance with any type of energy bill, including electric, propane, heating fuel, kerosene, etc.
Those applying for assistance in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, or Wilkes counties should contact their local Department of Social Services, where their staff administers the BREMCare program for Blue Ridge Electric. In Alleghany County, residents should contact Blue Ridge Opportunity Commission (BROC).
BREMCare is a charitable program of the cooperative, designed to assist those in need of help with electric or heating bills.
For those wanting to join the effort to help local residents in need, they can contribute to the BREMCare Crisis Fund campaign being sponsored throughout February by the cooperative and its subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies. For every dollar donated this month to the BREMCare Crisis Fund, Blue Ridge Electric will match it up to $50,000. All donations are tax deductible.
Checks should be made payable to BREMCare. Donations are accepted at the local Blue Ridge Electric office or can be mailed to the attention of Grey Scheer, director of community relations, Blue Ridge Electric, PO Box 112, Lenoir, NC, 28645.
Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation is a cooperative utility serving over 62,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe and Alleghany counties as well as parts of Wilkes and Alexander counties. Its subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies, provides propane, heating fuel, kerosene, hearth products, and commercial gasoline to a growing territory from offices in Boone, Lenoir, Morganton, and West Jefferson.
