Prairie Opportunity, Inc. and Atmos partner to provide relief
Through Atmos energy grants, and Prairie Opportunity, Inc., dozens were provided with help paying their gas bills in Lowndes County.
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Gas and electric bills are expenses that can’t be planned for fully.
They regularly rise and can vary in cost from month to month.
One program aims to help local communities with these costs.
Eric Thomas, a Prairie Opportunity, Inc. board member said a person never knows when they will need help.
“With energy, it’s constantly going up,” Thomas said. “Light bills constantly going up. Gas bills constantly going up. And a lot of people are disabled, single-parent homes, and some of them have been laid off, they don’t have jobs. So they needed assistance during those times.”
It’s unpredictable when a person will need help.
But one thing Lowndes County locals can count on is organizations stepping up when they’re down.
Like Frankie Gordon who, without this assistance, wouldn’t have gas to warm her home or cook her food.
“I lost my job so I need a little help right now,” Gordon said. “I never thought I would need it but I do now.”
The Atmos Blitz is funded through an Atmos grant- and is organized by Prairie Opportunity, Inc.
Thomas said the aim of programs like this is ultimately independence.
“Sometimes people get in bad times,” Thomas said. “So when we got programs like this to help out during those bad times, that will allow people to become self-sufficient.”
Gordan said people who don’t want to ask for help should reconsider.
“You just got to let it go and go ask,” Gordon said. “Because God says ask, it should be given.”
Prairie Opportunity, Inc. plans to do another Atmos Blitz in the coming weeks.
