To the Editor:

Last week, the Trump Administration abruptly fired the entire staff working in the LIHEAP Office. LIHEAP provides fuel assistance to low-income seniors, disabled people, and families to keep their homes warm in the winter. More than 50,000 Maine households received assistance through the program this winter. Chances are you know someone who has been helped by it.

Without a staff to administer the program, it is unlikely heating assistance will be available next winter. I am deeply concerned for my neighbors who rely on LIHEAP to stay warm. Nobody should have to freeze in their own home during a long Maine winter.

LIHEAP is a win-win for small communities like Jay and Livermore Falls. People who need help paying for oil receive assistance, and locally-owned oil delivery companies receive the business and support jobs. Funding for the program has been approved on a bipartisan basis for decades. To essentially kill the program without warning or a replacement is cruel and hurts small businesses and neighbors in need.

I urge all Mainers to keep pressure on Senators King and Collins to demand LIHEAP be fully reinstated immediately. Next winter will be here before we know it.

Trevor Doiron

Jay