Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 8, 1993 TAG: 9310090234
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
But apple butter alone won't save the program from going under, says its director Billy Weitzenfeld.
Even so, the program, which faces ``a very serious funding crisis,'' will be pitching the spicy condiment Saturday as part of an effort to stay alive as it seeks a broader financial base.
The weatherization program will set up its roadside apple butter stand Saturday in front of the new First National Bank of Christiansburg branch in Riner, Weitzenfeld said. The program also will raffle a handmade quilt the same day.
Weitzenfeld concedes that selling apple butter is more symbolic than serious for the weatherization program, which fixes faulty or dangerous heating systems and improves home insulation and weather-stripping to reduce energy costs for low-income homeowners. While he doesn't expect to raise more than $500 from both the apple butter and the raffle, he does hope to focus attention on the program's plight.
Although the situation is improved somewhat from last month - when Weitzenfeld predicted the program would run out of money by March - there still are not enough funds left in the program's current contract with the Department of Housing and Community Development to run for a full year. Now, the funds will last until the end of April.
The program got $120,000 for this fiscal year, which began July 1, down from $206,000 last year and $400,000 in 1991.
Weatherization programs once benefited from settlements reached with oil companies in the 1970s to compensate consumers for energy overcharges. That money is gone, Weitzenfeld said, and no one has been rushing in to make up the difference.
A need remains, however, and 500 homeowners have applied for help. It was a grateful former client, Nannie Slate of Montgomery County, who came up with the fund-raising scheme, made and donated the quilt and will stir the apple butter kettle, Weitzenfeld said.
``I'm real pleased,'' said Slate as she took a break from peeling apples Thursday. The Weatherization Program not only fixed her leaky windows, it fixed faulty heating ducts and her furnace. ``It cut my heating bill by more than half,'' she said.
Slate believes that if everyone who has been helped by the program donated a dollar, it would help keep it going.
Apple butter is not the program's only venture. A for-profit high-efficiency wood stove business it runs now has begun to show ``a little bit'' of profit.
The program also has a deal with the state to be the local emergency home repair program contractor. Starting in November, it will work with the heating system crisis portion of the state's fuel assistance program, which is funded through local social services departments.
``We are making an effort to seek our own funding. We're not just sitting around bemoaning the lack of money,'' Weitzenfeld said.
There are some encouraging signs on the state level, he said. Last month, the Virginia Housing Study Commission recommended the inclusion of $1.5 million for weatherization programs in the next biennial budget.
``Whether it'll ever happen is another story, but it is a positive step,'' he said.
Weitzenfeld - who is president of the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals - said the commission's action gives the group a ``springboard'' in its dealings with lawmakers.
Local support has been more forthcoming. A church contributed some cash and a local supply house has arranged for the program to get parts and equipment at cost. ``I see it as the community taking it on themselves to keep something going,'' Weitzenfeld said.
by CNB