Friday, May 27, 2011

OWASA's Taste of Hope program expands donation options


Donors in the Taste of Hope Customer Assistance program now have the option to choose any whole dollar donation per month ($2.00, $5.00, $10.00, etc). The current option of rounding up bills to the next whole dollar amount remains available.

OWASA and the Inter-Faith Council (IFC), a community service agency which provides crisis intervention, food, shelter and other services to families in need, founded the Taste of Hope Customer Assistance Program in 1997 to help families unable to pay an OWASA bill. To date, participating donors’ monthly bills have been rounded up to the nearest dollar, and the added amount goes to the IFC to help families pay their OWASA bills.

OWASA cannot use its customer revenues to support or promote the Taste of Hope program; it is funded entirely with voluntary donations. OWASA can use its water and sewer revenues only for public water and sewer purposes, which do not include private financial assistance.

“We encourage customers who want to contribute a greater amount to the Taste of Hope program to make use of this new option,” said Stephen Winters, OWASA’s Director of Finance and Customer Service. In recent years, Taste of Hope donations have totaled about $7,000 per year, and the IFC has been able to help a family with an OWASA bill only once a year. About 1,200 or 6% of OWASA’s 20,000 customers are now monthly donors in the Taste of Hope program.

“Whether you have your bills simply rounded up to the next dollar or choose a larger monthly donation, we ask everyone who can afford to do so to become a monthly Taste of Hope donor,” Winters said.

Customers who wish to become Taste of Hope donors, and existing Taste of Hope donors who wish to increase their monthly donations to a whole dollar amount, are invited to click here to sign up and to choose the amount of monthly donations. If you receive this information in paper form, please go to the OWASA website, www.owasa.org, and click on the Taste of Hope graphic on the left side of the homepage. The Taste of Hope webpage includes the link to sign up as a donor.

People who do not wish to donate monthly or who do not receive an OWASA bill are invited to donate to the Taste of Hope program by sending a check directly to the IFC at 110 East Main Street, Carrboro, NC 27510.

For more information:

Stephen Winters, OWASA’s Director of Finance and Customer Service, 537-4230 or swinters@owasa.org

Chris Moran, Executive Director, Inter-Faith Council, 929-6380 or executive@ifcmailbox.org

Welcome to March on Poverty

The Inter-Faith Council (IFC) believes that now is the time to stop poverty in its tracks. Many in our community are struggling to hang on; and many need the inspiration of our community leaders to do something about poverty's influence and prominence. We need everyone who cares about reducing poverty's hold over increasing numbers of Carrboro and Chapel Hill households and unsheltered persons. Our new March On Poverty blog summons you to our call and the original call of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the countless among us who have followed in his footsteps. You ask, "how long will this take?" Dr. King said "Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Poverty is the primary cause of homelessness and hunger, two community challenges IFC volunteers and staff cross swords with daily. A lack of an adequate response by state, federal and local governments enable and procrastinate these conditions. We seek to create a just community, one that is committed to overcoming social problems by a greater commitment to the common good. We hope our blog will bring you more in touch with these issues. We hope you will come to know the facts about IFC future plans, new program models and new facilities commonly called Community House and FoodFirst. We hope you will join us.

Stay tuned! Stay in touch! March On!

Chris Moran, Executive Director

View the Community House Mission & Vision

View the FoodFirst Mission & Vision