Imagine living for weeks without water. Some County families have been forced to do just that— choosing between paying their water bills and feeding their children.
“We had a lot of residents asking us for help because their water had been disconnected,” says Ana Dineen, coordinator of Fairfield Suisun Unified School District Healthy Start Family Resource Centers, a long-time United Way partner and grantee.“When they can’t bathe, wash dishes or flush toilets, their homes quickly become unsanitary—even unsafe—places to live.”
Unfortunately, no help existed in Solano County to assist residents with water bills. Dineen approached Aimee Durfee, United Way’s vice president of community investments in the North Bay, to explore possible solutions.
Together, with a group of Solano nonprofits, they established the first water bill assistance program in the region. A grant to the program from United Way’s Bay Area Community Fund, combined with funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is now helping dozens of families get the water turned back on.
“One of United Way’s strengths is filling gaps in our community’s safety net by finding or creating services where none exist. So, we were immediately interested in working with partners to address the water bill problem,” says Durfee.
“This partnership is just one example of our Road to Recovery work. Our staff has been pulling out all the stops to help address these types of growing needs during this economic crisis.”
