Local News

Leominster To Consider Extra Fuel Aid

LEOMINSTER (WBZ) ― Leominster City Council is being asked to provide emergency fuel assistance, beyond existing programs, by creating a fund for donations. City leaders tell WBZ's Ron Sanders some businesses are already pledging to contribute.

Jorge Rivera spent his warm Columbus Day working on a retaining wall to protect his yard from snow this winter. But the plastics factory worker was also worrying about how to pay for heat in the Leominster duplex he shares with his six-member family. He says he's not sure he'll be able to make ends meet this winter. "I don't know. It's tough."

Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella wants to set up an Energy Assistance Donation Account to make sure people who need heating help "don't fall through the cracks."

"Obviously, with everything that's happened with the federal government, they're not going to be very much assistance," said Mazzarella.

Fuel assistance programs already available in Leominster, as in other cities and towns, are already being drained. "We're using this year's money to pay last year's bills. One need not, sort of, be a mathematical genius to figure out what lies ahead," says the mayor.

 Massachusetts Energy Assistance
 WBZ's Energy Saving Guide

Richard Marchand is President of the Leominster City Council which takes up Mayor Mazzarella's heating assistance donation proposal Tuesday night. He thinks they'll think of their neighbors. "The ones that are...trying to put food on the table and fuel in the furnace, it's going to be a challenging winter."

Mayor Mazzarella says already, by word-of-mouth, local businesses are pledging to donate about $5,000 to the Energy Assistance Account, if and when it's approved by the city council.

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