A programme aimed at helping seniors pay electricity bills has seen rising demand since its inception — but the community has also boosted its support for the initiative.

Executive director of Age Concern Claudette Fleming said the group launched their Energy Hardship Fund for Seniors in 2011 following reports of seniors struggling to pay their Belco bills. Since then, the number of people helped through the programme has grown year after year.

“In 2011 we helped 26 people,” Ms Fleming said. “For this fiscal year, which will end on March 31, we have helped 144 people. This year we spent in excess of $32,000 just in the area of electricity and more than $100,000 in helping people overall.

“The public’s response has been overwhelming. When the community heard of the need, we had numerous donors come forward. We had one donor who just asked us to give him the names so he could write the cheques. That donor shows up consistently every year with money.”

She said last March the charity and others joined forces with Belco to launch the Neighbours Helping Neighbours programme, which has further bolstered donations to the fund. Belco spokeswoman Linda Smith explained that the Neighbours Helping Neighbours programme came about as a result of Belco staff and agencies such as Age Concern regularly working together to help clients.

“It was based on the concept that while there are a lot of people who are unemployed or underemployed and maybe falling through the cracks in this economy, there are a majority of people who still have their jobs and would be willing to assist people in need, provided that they knew their funds were going toward a specific need,” she said.

“People were actually coming into Belco and going to Age Concern, walking in with a cheque or money and asking if they could put it towards someone who was having problems with their bill.

“We were trying to provide a safety net for people who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in financial difficulty, many of whom have never been in financial difficulty before. We wanted to try and create a safety net for that one, two, three-month period so people can adjust the way they live and find their feet. That three-month period can be a slippery slope for a lot of people.”

She said through the programme Belco began to collect donations for Age Concern, the Coalition for the Protection of Children and the Family Centre through specially marked envelopes, while giving each of the organisations $20,000 in seed money and organising denim day fundraising events.

“We run the campaign, we fund the campaign to try to encourage people to give donations. That’s the Belco part,” she said. “We don’t interfere with the agencies working with their clients. It’s not just used for electricity. We let them determine who is suitable and who is not, and Age Concern has done an excellent job with that.”

Ms Fleming explained that while energy bills represent the largest portion of where the funds go, she said the programme also helps clients pay for prescriptions, handyman services and food. She said that many older Bermudians are hesitant to ask for assistance, but in the case of many seniors the bills are as low as $200.

“It’s not a lot of money, so it makes sense to give them this hand-up rather than send them to a more cumbersome system such as the Financial Assistance system,” she said. “I believe we have achieved our goal of helping people through hard times without putting additional, unnecessary burden on the tax paying public.”

She urged the public to continue their support through donations so the programme can help more struggling members of the community. Donations can be made online through www.ageconcern.bm or at either Age Concern or Belco offices.