Weeks before winter officially arrives, federal funds designated to help the poor pay heating bills have already been exhausted in Atlanta, officials said Wednesday.
Joyce J. Dorsey, president of the Fulton-Atlanta Community Action Authority, which distributes Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds in Fulton County, said more than twice as many senior citizens asked for assistance this year, which depleted $1.8 million in federal funds before the general public could even ask for help.
Dorsey said senior citizens and the disabled began getting assistance -- a single payment of about $350 to be used for utility bills -- on Nov. 1.
About 4,700 seniors asked for assistance this year. Only 2,000 did so in 2010, said Dorsey.
The general public would have been allowed to apply for help Dec. 1, but there's no funds to distribute.
"The program has ended before [non-seniors] can even ask for help," said Dorsey.
Dorsey said the increased number of senior applicants is a sign of the economic times.
"You see people, maybe retirees that had good jobs, asking for help for the first time," she said. "You see senior citizens crying because they have to ask for help. It is depressing."
Last year, hundreds of people waited in line for assistance and some got so irate police were called in to control the crowd.
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