ROCKLAND — Coming in from the cold is one of the great pleasures in winter, unless your house has no heat.  The Area Interfaith Outreach (AIO) food pantry in Rockland, serving all of Knox County, is unusual among food pantries in that heating fuel assistance is part of its continuing program.  AIO can’t give much, just up to $300 in need-based emergency help of any sort per family per year.  But it makes a difference.

AIO does not have a rainy day fund.  At a food pantry, every day is a rainy day. So it has happened this October and November that when the number of families asking for heat assistance climbed 32 percent higher than in the same period last year, AIO resources got low. It is not known why that number increased so drastically. Some theorize that the economy has been slow to replace lost jobs and more people continue to struggle financially.

According to AIO, an analysis conducted last summer concluded that in all but two of the 11 public schools in the Rockland area, more than 50 percent of students qualified for subsidized or free lunches. The other two were just a hair under 50 percent.

Food continues to be available to pantry clients during this difficult time, but until sufficient new funds come in, the AIO Board has suspended issuing vouchers for emergency assistance — heat, electricity, water, transportation.  AIO’s board will be sending its Annual Appeal letters to previous supporters this month, and counts on the public’s generous response to relieve the problem, at least for a while. 

Heat is often what lies between a family and homelessness or illness.  Funds coming into Knox County from the federal government’s Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LI-HEAP,  distributed through PENQUIS in Rockland) will not arrive until December or January.  But it’s already cold.

AIO is a 501c3, non-profit organization, run entirely by volunteers for more than 20 years.  Its mailing address is P.O. Box 113, Rockland, ME 04841.  Gifts are tax deductible, much needed, and much appreciated.