BANGOR (AP) – A group of private foundations is donating $500,000 to help needy residents of five eastern Maine counties keep warm this winter.

The announcement was made by Eastern Maine Funders, a group of foundations brought together by the Maine Philanthropy Center to help low-income households hit hard by the soaring price of heating fuel.

Half the money will be earmarked for long-term help such as home weatherization and furnace maintenance. The other half will go toward fuel assistance.

Eligible recipients must be residents of Penobscot, Piscataquis, Hancock, Waldo and Washington counties.

The Maine Philanthropy Center said community action agencies in those areas are reporting increases of up to 25 percent in the number of applicants for fuel assistance.

“Several months ago, the Eastern Maine Funders began talking about how we might coordinate our efforts to respond to an emergency,” Jeff Walmstrom, chairman of the Maine Philanthropy Center, told the Bangor Daily News on Wednesday.

“This is the first time in our region that a group of private foundations has responded in a strategic, coordinated way to a crisis like this,” he said.

Eastern Maine Funders includes representatives from Bangor Saving Bank Foundation, Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, The Betterment Fund, C.F. Adams Charitable Trust, Common Good Ventures, JTG Foundation, Maine Community Foundation, Maine Health Access Foundation, MBNA Foundation, United Way of Eastern Maine, and the Unity Foundation.

“Every day we get calls from Maine people who are out, or nearly out, of both fuel and money,” Gov. John Baldacci said.

“Washington has failed to appropriate the funds we need to keep pace with rising energy prices.”

The governor reiterated that state lawmakers are expected to take up a $5 million state appropriation for fuel assistance as the first order of business next month, and that the state has been talking to CITGO about a donation of discounted heating oil.