Program update · August 12, 2026
What 214 heating tanks actually looked like
The heat fund closed its season on April 14th. Two hundred and fourteen deliveries, $58,900 spent, and two nights in February we could not cover. This is the part most annual reports leave out.
A tank runs dry differently than you would expect. Nobody calls when the gauge reads a quarter. They call at nine at night when the furnace has been clicking and failing for an hour and the house is already down to fifty-four degrees. By then the delivery is an emergency premium, and the household has usually spent three days deciding whether to ask.
The arithmetic
Average delivery: $275. Average household: 2.3 deliveries across the season. The most expensive month was February, when four straight weeks below fifteen degrees pushed usage past anything we had budgeted. We spent 41% of the season funds in 28 days.
The two nights we could not cover are the reason we are raising the target this year, not the 214 we could.— Ruth Abiola
What changes before November
Three things. We are pre-buying fuel in September at summer rates, which historically saves eleven to fourteen percent. We are moving the intake line from a phone number to a text number, because the households who wait longest are the ones who hate calling. And we are asking for a larger goal — $60,000 instead of $52,000 — because last winter told us plainly what the real number is.
If you gave to the heat fund last year, your gift is in that 214. Thank you. If you are deciding whether to this year, the tanks start running dry in the second week of December.
