July 24, 2008 issue
High Country Women’s Fund Responds to Gas Crisis
Story by Kathleen McFadden
Frowns, winces and outright groans are happening at gasoline pumps all over the country, but the high price of fuel that many people can absorb by cutting back on nonessentials is devastating to families already living on the edge. For those families, paying for gasoline means not paying for something else—and that something else can hardly be classified as a nonessential. Cutting back means having less money for rent, for utility bills, for food. Forget the movies and vacation trips to the beach. The gas price crisis has many families grappling with the fundamental question of how to survive.
Responding to this crisis, the High Country Women’s Fund, an initiative of the High Country United Way, has allocated $10,000 to pay for gasoline cards for women who are struggling to get to work or school and struggling to get their children to childcare.
The money has been split evenly between Watauga and Avery counties. In Watauga, the Watauga Crisis Assistance Network, WeCAN, is handling applications for assistance, and Shivonne Quintero is WeCAN’s service coordinator. In Avery, Jayne McNeil of Volunteer Avery County is the point of contact.
Barbara Hall, a member of the High Country Women’s Fund Directors’ Circle, said, “When a woman with children HAS a job and the price of gas keeps her from getting there, when the decision had been medicine or groceries and now its just plain gasoline, there is a crisis. The High Country Women’s Fund is dipping into the Power of the Purse funds to give some help.”
McNeil recently assisted a single mom with three children who lives in Avery and works in Boone. The cost of her commute has skyrocketed.
“A lot of women are making minimum wage and there’s not a lot left after paying for gas,” said Mary Jo Grubbs, allocations chair of the High Country Women’s Fund. “At $4 a gallon for gas and minimum wage, the math doesn’t add up.”
According to Lynne Mason, director of the Hospitality House, “The demand for WeCAN assistance this year has been phenomenal. We have distributed more food boxes in the first five months of this year than all of last year. When you live so much on the edge, at so low an income, it’s getting harder and harder to make it.”
Grubbs said, “The funds we are releasing for gas assistance represent donations from hundreds of generous women in our community. Through our Power of the Purse luncheon in the fall, we are able to raise significant funds that we distribute throughout the year to women and children in need. When women support Power of the Purse through sponsorships, jewelry bids or ticket sales, we can make a huge impact on our community for women who are one step away from a setback.
“By being an initiative of the United Way,” Grubbs continued, “we can partner with United Way agencies and move funds into the hands of those who need it more quickly. The structure is there to take those generous donations and put them to use almost immediately.”
Both Quintero and McNeil will evaluate applications for assistance and release the gas cards based strictly on need. The program is intended to be a lifeline, not a cushion. To contact Quintero, call 828-264-1237. To contact McNeil, call 828-737-0718.
For more information about the High Country Women’s Fund, click to www.highcountrywomensfund.org.
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