With so many longstanding worthwhile charities out there, Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund and Heat and Housing for Heroes are emerging because of the growing grassroots support from Wisconsinites.
“Wisconsinites have really decided to make Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund and Heat and Housing for Heroes their charity of choice. What’s been absolutely amazing with our donors, both big and small, is their level of loyalty and commitment. Clearly, they lead the nation not only with their generosity but also their personal involvement at our special events or helping to identify those in their community with unmet needs,” says Energy Services, Inc. Executive Director Tim Bruer. “There are those that have faithfully contributed to the fund on a monthly basis. We’re seeing our larger donors not only continuing to support the funds but we’re also seeing the amount of those donated dollars continues to increase.”
These donors are critically preserving the survival safety net, especially amongst struggling veterans below the poverty level and those with disabilities who have tremendous health risks.
“To respond to that increased demand, fortunately, our grassroots donors and utility support have also worked to expand to develop early alerts on many of the high risk customers, especially our veterans,” Bruer says. “We’ve developed targeted payment plans and outreach initiatives so that nobody in Wisconsin faces the bitter cold alone.” The support and contributions that Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund gets from its Connections bi-annual newsletter is a key contributor.
“We’re starting to see more recently contributions coming from individuals who are planning their estates and as direct result of a handful of those larger contributions we were able to literally recently reach out to a number of the special needs population, such as; frail elderly, disabled veterans, and young children with respiratory issues,” Bruer says.
KWW/CF is particularly proud that administration costs are kept at 10 percent or less, so that 90 cents of every dollar goes directly towards helping a vulnerable household in need.
“Without question, now more than ever as we approach another season of bitter cold temperatures, those contributions are going to be essential in keeping folks safely in their homes,” Bruer says. “I think the average contributor who has been so generous with a number of different causes, we cannot express our appreciation enough and reinforce the level of impact they are having in our community for victims of poverty but for their generosity would be forced into institutional care.” Because of the growing support of the KWW/CF and the greater awareness of the need exists, more people – and more veterans – have been able to get the help that they need.
“So many of these veterans had no place else to turn and none of this would have been possible if not for the growing generosity and support of our donors who are making such an incredible difference for those who are less fortunate,” Bruer says.
