Combined Community Services is kicking off the 2022/23 Gift of Warmth fundraising campaign on November 1st.

All money raised is distributed through Combined Community Services, directly to the utility providers to cover the utility shut-off of individuals who cannot afford to heat their homes.

Join this community effort and donate today.

Imagine sleeping in freezing temperatures because you don’t have enough money to heat your home. That is the reality for one in six Kosciusko County families living at or below the poverty line and struggling to make ends meet.

Thankfully, there’s help! The Gift of Warmth is a community initiative and fundraiser which provides utility assistance to people in Kosciusko County. This year, the need for utility assistance is greater as families who suffered losses and hardships during the pandemic try to bounce back with less support and inflation continues to rise. Plus, as temperatures drop, heating prices are expected to soar. The Energy Information Administration predicts the year-to-year prices for households using heating oil could increase by more than 40 percent.  

That is not good news for people struggling to pay their bills. We are seeing a large amount of requests for emergency rental assistance, emergency utility assistance, and emergency commodity food needs, and those additional funds are not always there. Since January of this year, CCS has served 196 households and kept their utilities on. We desire to help more! Combined Community Services wants to help the most people with the most need. It is our desire to build this emergency fund for utilities so we can meet the needs of more families. Knowing that our neighbors are going to be warm tonight!

Through partnerships with REMC, NIPSCO, Real Services, donations, and this fundraising campaign, we plan to assist thousands of families through the cold winter nights. All those contributions go to the families who qualify in our community. 

We are excited to serve Kosciusko County together!