Gainesville Regional Utilities is encouraging customers to give an electrifying gift in honor of Valentine’s Day.
GRU’s Project Share campaign lets customers add extra money to their utilities bills to help keep the lights on for others who are struggling financially.
Project Share accepts donations year-round, but GRU spokeswoman Kendall Litton Jensen said February is the month when the campaign is promoted most.
“We just identified that as a good opportunity to tie it in with Valentine’s Day, to resonate a little bit with our customers as a way to help out,” she said.
The donations go to three local charities, The Salvation Army, Gainesville Community Ministries and Catholic Charities, and the charities distribute the money to community members in need.
Shanita Dunmore, GRU customer service supervisor, said that when the program was created in 1986, it was primarily focused on helping the elderly and the disabled.
“There were some needs in the community, and it was an opportunity for our citizens to be able to give back and to assist those that were in need,” she said.
Lt. Preston Lewis, a member of the Salvation Army, said that in the 30 years the Salvation Army has partnered with Project Share, the need for utility assistance has been consistently high.
He said about 20,000 customers have their utilities disconnected each year in Gainesville.
Project Share raised nearly $78,000 last year. Still, Lewis said, the Salvation Army has to turn down about 70 percent of the people who qualify for assistance.
“If we had the budget to help every person who comes in here and qualifies, we would do just that, but unfortunately there’s just not enough money in any of our accounts to be able to do that,” he said.
Lewis said he thinks the need for Project Share will be higher this year than ever before.
“I think it’s going to be even more so now that the utility rates went up this fall,” he said. “We’re probably going to see a record number of people who are in need of this assistance.”
