Project Share is a community fund that helps keep homes warm through crisis situations like a sudden loss of income, expensive medical costs, malfunctioning heating equipment and other unforeseen circumstances that deplete available funds and make it difficult to pay household energy costs. The program is a partnership between utilities, fuel vendors and community action agencies that provide emergency energy assistance to qualified households that have exhausted all other energy assistance resources.
“Project Share has been an imperative resource in meeting the client’s needs and keeping them warm throughout the winter,” said Christina Zamora, Executive Director, Klamath & Lake Community Action Services (KLCAS). “The program’s flexibility has been a life saver for many households that may not qualify for other assistance programs.”
Funding for Project Share comes from the generous donations of Avista customers and employees, as well as through corporate donations and other contributors. Last year alone, more than $256,000 in Project Share funding helped approximately 1,050 households in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.
Project Share funds are distributed through local community action agencies such as KLCAS and SNAP, serving Spokane County in Washington. Our call center representatives can help connect customers to these agencies for assistance. In some cases, families have never accessed assistance benefits and are unaware that help is available.
Giving to Project Share is easy. One hundred percent of the funds collected through donations made with Avista bills are passed to the Project Share fund.