LIVERMORE FALLS – A group is organizing to address potential heating fuel needs of people in Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls this winter.

They are working out the details and ideas for fundraising and hope to have the program ready by late December, organizer Louise Chabot said Monday.

“It’s really hard to get something like this off the ground. It really is,” Chabot said. “We’re working hard on it.”

Two meetings have been held so far after an ad hoc committee to the Wausau Paper Community Response Team was formed to address heating needs of displaced paper mill workers and possible funding avenues, she said.

The idea expanded to have the heating relief fund available to all qualifying residents in the three towns, she said.

A third meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Livermore Falls Town Office. Veterans organizations have been invited to attend, and it is open to the public, Chabot said.

The committee includes members Lee Fontenot Jr., Paul Gilbert, Dakota D. Baker, the Rev. Charles Hargenrader, Pastor Ami Sawtelle and Chabot.

At a November meeting, Judy Frost, program manager of Energy and Housing Resources at Western Maine Community Action, spoke to the group about federal programs available to qualifying residents for heating assistance, Chabot said.

Frost also spoke about local programs funded with donations and other community fundraisers sponsored by charitable organizations such as the Farmington Area Ecumenical Ministry, she said. In that case, the Western Maine agency administers funds collected by charitable organizations and distributes them as designated. Chabot said she has also spoken to the Rev. Susan Crane from the Farmington ministry to find out how that program works.

Mike Castaneda, vice president of the United Steelworkers Union at the Wausau Paper mill, has also expressed the union’s interest in aiding the project, she said.

Chabot said she is hoping to get donation cans out by late December.