By Pete Vasquez
Pvasquez@cherryroad.com

Doug Hairgrove is the Director of Energy Programs at Community Action Corporation of South Texas, and he was busy Monday morning, Feb. 3 offering some utility assistance to a line of people from Jim Wells, Duval and Brooks County. 

This event at the Community Action Corporation of South Texas Office at 601 E. Main in Alice, was for income eligible people and priorities like households with children under the age of five, people over the age of sixty and disabled individuals. 

“This is a year-round program but sometimes we get funding sporadically and that’s what causes us not to do everything at the beginning of the year. This is our big role out to start the year,” said Hairgrove.

He said with the current contract they can assist over 100 houses in Jim Wells County and 60 houses in Brooks and 30 in Duval. After that they will just make a waiting list with names and phone numbers, and they will contact them if they get more funding. Hairgrove said he wants to pursue this by phone. 

“I want to try and go much as by phone in the future to eliminate people having to wait in line, stand outside. I know it’s inconvenient especially for the elderly clients who are still challenged with electronic application, and I don’t want to exclude those people in any way because they’re really one of the primary reasons we’re here,” he said. 

Hairgrove thinks they could do this by phone taking applicants and scheduling them 10 to 20 at a time and not hundreds at a time. He said what compounded matters most was that there was a freeze on funding last week which kind of forced everything into a one-day event.