AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage on Friday helped kick off a fundraising collaborative to help low-income Mainers purchase heating fuel. 

The initiative, Keep ME Warm, is designed to bolster heating assistance amid federal cuts to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The program, organized and administered by the 10 statewide chapters of the United Way, hopes to raise $350,000 to help 1,000 families heat their homes this winter. 

LePage said the program was important for elderly residents, who he said, “don’t ask for help when they need it.”

The program will rely on tax-deductible donations to buy heating fuels such as oil, wood or natural gas. 

Mainers are reliant on oil for heat. The price of oil is 20 percent higher today than it was a year ago. Oil prices were $2.85 per gallon last year versus $3.50 this year. 

Lisa Laflin, director of the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area in Farmington and chairwoman of United Ways of Maine, said the program was being launched at a critical time. 

“It is no secret that the current economic challenges in Maine and the country are causing many to have to make difficult choices,” Laflin said. “On a daily basis United Ways in Maine and their community partners witness Mainers having to decide whether to pay for rent, food, prescriptions or fuel.”

The initiative arrives after President Obama last year moved to cut LIHEAP funding from $4.7 billion to $3.5 billion, dropping Maine’s share from $54 million last year to $38.5 million this year.

According to MaineHousing, the denial rate for LIHEAP assistance is now 18 percent. Those who receive assistance will see their help cut nearly in half, from $802 last winter to $483 this year.

An estimated 65,000 Mainers are expected to apply for heating assistance this year. Nearly 64,000 sought LIHEAP benefits in 2011.

Obama and Congress have both since moved to increase LIHEAP assistance. U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, has a proposal that would restore LIHEAP funding to last year’s $4.7 billion level. 

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