DIXFIELD – When Cheryl Holman saw the difficulty some area families were having with trying to pay their fuel oil bills this winter, she knew she wanted to to something.
Holman, an employee of Dixfield Discount Fuels, said she asked her employer, Clinton Bradbury, if she could organize a fund-raising effort to help some of these families. He said yes, and will be one of about 20 community members and employees who will canvass Peru, Dixfield, Canton and surrounding areas Saturday asking for bottles.
“I’d come home at night thinking about it. It started in my mind about three months ago,” she said.
She decided it would be better to wait until the weather was better to conduct the bottle drive.
The volunteers will go door-to-door in teams, with one person driving and another asking for bottle donations.
The bottles will then be taken to Jeanne’s Bottle Baby Depot in Mexico. Those who wish to donate bottles may also drop them off anytime. Donors should designate the bottles for the fund-raising drive, Holman said.
Already, she said, some people have donated bottles or money to help families pay for fuel. She has also been storing donated bottles in the barn of her Dixfield home.
With her work at Dixfield Fuels, she said she knows who needs the help in paying for fuel the most, and she knows what kind of help they already get. She said one older woman she knows has to work many extra hours just to pay for fuel, and it hurts her to have to ask for more time.
Holman said that if enough money is raised to help five families receive 100 gallons each, that would be a success. She’s hoping for more, though.
Once the bottles have been turned in and the monetary donations counted, the fuel will be delivered. She expects that to be within two weeks.
Go and Do:
What: Bottle drive
Where: Peru, Dixfield, Canton
When: 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, April 30
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