Latest / Pittsburgh Sunday Morning / TOPIC: Chad Quinn of Dollar Energy Fund

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TOPIC: Chad Quinn of Dollar Energy Fund · Pittsburgh Sunday Morning

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: And welcome in. This is a public affairs program shedding
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the light on the interests and issues and concerns of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the greater Pittsburgh area. Today's topic is going to be
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  Speaker 1: the Dollar Energy Fund, and we have the CEO and President,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Chad Quinn. Chad, good to see you again.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: How are you? Doing well, Johnny. Good to see you
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: as well. All right.
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  Speaker 1: Let's start off, for those who aren't familiar with the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Dollar Energy Fund, even though you've been part of the
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh fabric since the earth was cooling, it's been quite
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: a long time, haven't you?
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  Speaker 2: 43 years headquartered right here in Pittsburgh.
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  Speaker 1: That's amazing.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: So for those who are aware of what you do
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: or need to be reminded of what you guys do,
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  Speaker 1: what is the Dollar Energy Fund?
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  Speaker 2: Johnny, the Dollar Energy Fund is a nonprofit organization that
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: will help a household in Pittsburgh in this area that
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: is struggling to make ends meet. We will help them
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: by making a payment to their utility company if their
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: service is off or in threat of termination or if
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: they've just gotten behind on their bills and need a
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: little extra help to get by.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Now, for those who are in that situation, the number
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: one thing that you recommend is actually go to the supplier.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: So if they are working with Peoples or Duquesne Light,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: you want them to reach out to the corporate first,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and then you're kind of a fail-safe, right?
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. So the first thing someone should do, no matter what,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: if they know they're going to struggle to pay their
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: next bill, or their due date's coming on their current bill,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: or wherever the case may be, the best thing to
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: do is communicate with your utility company. They might be
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: able to do something as simple as put you on
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: a budget or expand or term out that balance that
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: you may have. But they can also recommend you to
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: an organization like Dollar Energy Fund that can help you
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  Speaker 2: pay that bill, that coming bill that you have if
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: you're offering threat of termination.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: So you said 43 years ago. How did it all start?
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  Speaker 2: Johnny, in 1983 when The steel mills were changing. Our
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: economy was changing here in Pittsburgh. The steel mills were closing.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Our founder was working at a KDKA call to action
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  Speaker 2: and picked up the phone and heard all these people
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: calling in and saying, I can't pay my bills. I'm
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: struggling with my utilities. What am I supposed to do?
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  Speaker 2: The steel mill that my husband worked at has closed.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: So what happened was she started listening and saying, there's
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: nothing in Pittsburgh for this. What do I do? And
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: she studied what had been being done in a couple
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: other places. And the idea of if you contribute a
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: dollar on your utility bill, your utility company will match
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: it and make it $ 2 was founded back then. And
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: that's where the Dollar Energy Fund was started. We've grown
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: a lot in 43 years. We went from being organized
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: in her basement and doing a lot of things on paper.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And you mentioned that it was headquartered here, but you've
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: branched out in other markets as well.
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  Speaker 2: We're in other states. We're still here in Pittsburgh and
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: we still do mostly a lot of work here in
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh region and in Pennsylvania. But yeah, we're in
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  Speaker 2: 18 different states right now partnering with utility companies. Not
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: as deeply embedded as we are here in Pennsylvania. We
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  Speaker 2: partner with a lot of utilities.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Well, because it started here. People are more familiar with
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the routine. You know, back in the day when I
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: would get a physical, you know, utility bill, there was
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: an option that you could checkmark and make a donation
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: right away to the Dollar Energy Fund. You could still
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: do that, but most of those bills are now on
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the line. So that makes your job a little more difficult.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: It is very difficult, and that's one of the reasons
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: why we're here and why we do the Request-a-Thon and
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: why we do fundraising in the community. The group of
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: people that used to write checks out and pay their
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: utility bills and see those bill inserts and those boxes
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: on their bills, the younger generation here hasn't necessarily seen
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: that call to action on your utility bill or that
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: bill stuffer because banks and utility companies encourage you to
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: pay your bill online. And it's harder for us to
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  Speaker 2: reach people. just the everyday person through their utility bill.
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  Speaker 1: But you still do that though, right?
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  Speaker 2: You can still do it. And we encourage people to
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  Speaker 2: do that. It's the simplest, easiest way to support Dollar
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Energy Fund is to check a box on your bill
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  Speaker 2: and add a few bucks. You can do that on
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: your gas, electric, or water bill for any of the
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  Speaker 2: partnering utility companies in our regional and in this region.
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  Speaker 1: Now, affordability is the buzzword of 2026, and I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: that affects what you guys do.
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  Speaker 2: It does. So affordability... talks about a lot of things.
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  Speaker 2: It talks about how much it costs to put food
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  Speaker 2: on the table, to put gas in our car, to
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: pay your mortgage, to pay your rent. All those things,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: in addition to your utilities, have gone up. And we know,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: we all know how much it costs to put gas
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: in a car. We all know that everything is more
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: expensive at the grocery store or when we go out
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  Speaker 2: to eat or whatever it might be. The dollars you
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: have available to you right now, if something happens, if
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: you lose some hours at work, you get hurt, you
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: can't go to work, you get laid off, any of
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: those things that happen, you have an unexpected expense. Because
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: everything's more expensive, it's pinching those dollars that you may
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: have had available, that little bit of a cushion you
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: may have had available. The idea that people live paycheck
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: to paycheck is very true. But even if you had
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: a little reserve, you can't put money into it. That
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: reserve is getting smaller because you're borrowing from it to
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: pay all these other things. When you get into a
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: utility emergency... It is perhaps one of the most important
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: things you have.
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  Speaker 1: Especially in the wintertime.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: With the winter is when we all think about it.
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  Speaker 2: But imagine trying to get your kids to school every
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: day without running water, without them being able to take
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: a bath, or without you being able to wash their clothes.
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  Speaker 2: That's very important. It leads to a lot of problems.
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  Speaker 2: It leads to absenteeism in schools and all these other
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  Speaker 2: things going on. Your heat in your home is one
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  Speaker 2: thing we all think about. And in the winter... That
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  Speaker 2: is the biggest thing we do, right, is making sure
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: that people have a warm home to be in. Keeping
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: your lights on for your household, keeping your power on,
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  Speaker 2: keeping all those things happening. Your utilities make our lives go.
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  Speaker 2: And without them, things get out of control really quickly
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  Speaker 2: and ultimately can lead to homelessness and all these other issues.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Right. And I'm going to play devil's advocate. People say, well,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to give to this because, you know,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: they need to, you know. you know, they need to
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  Speaker 1: step up. They need to, you know, pull up the
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: bootstraps and things like that. But these people aren't getting a,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: that you're not paying their utility bill month after month
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  Speaker 1: after month. That's not how it works, right?
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Correct. It's a one-time payment for their utilities. And Johnny,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: we used to measure, we were able to do it.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: We used to measure how many, how often someone came
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: back to the Dollar Tree Fund the next year or
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: the next year to get a grant. And And 93%
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  Speaker 2: of the time when we help someone, they don't come
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  Speaker 2: back to us in the next five years for assistance.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. So this is just like you kind of touched
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  Speaker 1: on it. There's a circumstance. Maybe it's a job loss
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  Speaker 1: or maybe it's an interruption in paychecks or maybe it's
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: a divorce or maybe a payment that didn't get paid.
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  Speaker 1: There's a circumstance that has made them get behind in
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: their bills. And so, like we said at the beginning
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  Speaker 1: of the program, is you encourage them to go directly
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: to the utility and find out what kind of options
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  Speaker 1: they have there, and then they will contact you. So,
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  Speaker 1: if they're in that situation, you don't find them coming
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  Speaker 1: back very often, like you said, maybe a year, maybe
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  Speaker 1: a year, five years later, but it's not the rule.
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  Speaker 1: It's more of the exception.
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  Speaker 2: You know, one of the first things, and Johnny, I
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: felt that when I first started at the All Energy Fund.
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  Speaker 2: I thought, well, These people might come back year after year.
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  Speaker 2: And ultimately, that's not the case. What I found that
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: changed my thinking was that we were getting donations from
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  Speaker 2: people that said, you helped me last year, right? You
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  Speaker 2: helped me two years ago. I was able to get
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  Speaker 2: back on my feet, and now I want to help
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  Speaker 2: someone else. So here's a few bucks to be able
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  Speaker 2: to do that. That's kind of a cool feeling when
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  Speaker 2: you see that you've helped someone get in a position
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  Speaker 2: where from them needing help to them helping somebody else.
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  Speaker 2: And that's a really cool story, and it changed my
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  Speaker 2: thinking when I first started there at the time.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned that, you know, back in the day when
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  Speaker 1: you would checkmark your bill, that the utilities would match
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  Speaker 1: their donations. Is that still the case?
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  Speaker 2: They still do it, Johnny. Our utility partners here in
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  Speaker 2: this region, and mostly everywhere across the country, match donations
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  Speaker 2: dollar for dollar, and 100% of your donation and their
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  Speaker 2: match is used to provide assistance. So they pay administrative
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  Speaker 2: fees and things separately from that. So I always challenge
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  Speaker 2: people to tell me another organization, another charity they can
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  Speaker 2: support that your $ 5 becomes $ 10 and all that $ 10
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  Speaker 2: is used to help something or somebody.
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  Speaker 1: All right. And coming up in a couple of weeks,
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  Speaker 1: we have our annual request-a-thon where people are going to
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  Speaker 1: request a song. And it's usually something crazy or something
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  Speaker 1: different or something that we don't normally play. But it's
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  Speaker 1: more important that they make a donation. They're helping Pittsburghers.
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  Speaker 1: They're helping people here in our community.
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  Speaker 2: They are, Johnny, and every dollar we raise during the
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  Speaker 2: request-a-thon is used right here in Pittsburgh. It goes right
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  Speaker 2: out on the street right away to help families here
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  Speaker 2: in this region that need help. They are all matched
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  Speaker 2: dollar for dollar by our utility partners. And if you
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: tune in and listen, you're going to find some really
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  Speaker 2: cool things. You're going to find an opportunity where someone
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  Speaker 2: else says, I'll match it. So your five bucks is
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  Speaker 2: matched by some corporate donor that's here. And it becomes $ 10.
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  Speaker 2: And then the utility company matches, and it.
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  Speaker 1: Becomes $ 20.
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  Speaker 2: So where can you find that great math that your
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: $ 5 in a.
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  Speaker 1: Donation becomes $ 20? A $ 100 donation becomes $ 400. And it's fun.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: It's a busy couple of days. It really is for
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  Speaker 1: both of our organizations.
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  Speaker 2: It is. And I think there's so many incentives that
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: are here that you can register to be part of
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: or get something in exchange for a donation that You
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: almost have to listen because it happens so fast. There
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: might be five of things and whatever they are in
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: the first, the next five people that become a neighborhood
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: hero or donate whatever. So you have to tune in
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: the entire time over that two day time period to
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: know what those great incentives are.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: We're talking with Chad Quinn of the Dollar Energy Fund.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I kind of mentioned that, you know, what is the
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: process of if somebody is needing assistance? We said, you know,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: reach out to the utility companies. But if they're looking
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: for help from the Dollar Energy Fund, what is the process? Johnny,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I would recommend the person, you know, someone go to
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: our website. It's dollarenergyfund.org. They can go to that website.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: We have information about the programs and the utility partners
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: that we partner with. They can actually apply right online.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: So you can apply online, use your cell phone if
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: you want to, to be able to take pictures of
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: your utility bill and the documents that you need to have.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: It's a very simple process to apply. We're trying to
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: make it as easy as possible for people to get
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: their applications in once they meet the criteria. So it's
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: a very easy process. It's very streamlined and your decisions
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: are rather quick.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Now, if somebody hasn't paid their utility bill in, let's say,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: six or seven months, you probably are not going to
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: cover something that extreme, right?
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: We can help with up to $ 500. If you haven't
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: paid a utility bill in that many months and you're
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: that far past due, it's probably because of some other
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: circumstance or you probably would have been, you know, they
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: would have termed you by now or something along those lines.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: So most of the folks we're helping are really just
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: a month behind. Yeah.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: And then you also refer to them to other organizations,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: food banks and things like that, because if somebody is
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: in that cycle and they're way behind, it's probably more
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: than just a utility bill that they're worried about.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, usually there's something else going on if
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: they're that far behind. We talked about those reasons why
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: someone might need help in the short term, but usually
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: if it's a longer term issue, there might be program
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: that the federal government provides through the state or some
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: other program that the customer might be eligible for. But
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: for the most part, we're helping people that are maybe
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: one bill behind at the most.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: For those who aren't familiar with the Dollar Energy Fund,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: it started here in Pittsburgh, like you said, in 1983,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: but it's expanded into other municipalities and other states. The
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: headquarters are right here. So tell me more about your
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: staff and your team.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: So we're right here on the south side. We're in
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: the Highline building here on the south side. We have
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: a contact center of a dedicated team of folks that
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: answer the call to help enroll people in the programs,
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: some other programs that utilities may offer. Those folks will
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: take the calls and do those things. We've got a
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: team in the office that does all the backroom stuff
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: and helps us keep the doors open and going and
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: the lights on and all the things on our team.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: that needs to do. But, you know, we've got a
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: big IT team that's there as well because, again, as
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: I mentioned, the number of applications we do, it's definitely software-driven.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: How many people, how many Pittsburghers have you helped since
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: its inception back in 1983?
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: So, Pittsburghers, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 700,000 Pittsburgh families. Wow.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: You know, we've helped about 1.3 million families across the
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: country to... from 1983 until now. But there's probably about 700,000
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: of that is here, folks here in Western Pennsylvania.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: How unique is the Dollar Energy Fund? I know you've
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: been here for, you know, like you said, over four decades.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Are other cities have programs like this? If it wasn't
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: for the Dollar Energy Fund expanding into other states... Is
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: there organizations like yours, or is this a unique situation?
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: I think we're unique because we're multi-state, and we're partnering
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: with a bunch of different utility companies. There are programs
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: like the Dollar Energy Fund in other states and other
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: cities that, for the most part.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Were they doing it before the Dollar Energy Fund, or
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: they took a look at your model?
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Probably after. I think we were probably one of the
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: first five programs in the United States that did what
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: we're doing. I think the first might have been in
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Baltimore or St. Louis, but I think we were probably
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: number three in the country in terms of organizations like
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: us that do this.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: When did you take over?
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Johnny, I started working at Dollar Tree Fund 20 years ago.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: So you're brand new.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And I became the CEO in 2013.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: So it's been a great 20 years, and we've done
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: a lot. And it makes you feel good to know that.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: We've helped this many families in that amount of time
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: and how we've grown and helped other people in other
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: places as well. You know, I tell our team at
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: the office that, you know, you may not meet the
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: people that you're helping every day, but you know when
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: that number ticks up and you help one more person,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: one more household, that you made a difference and you
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: made an impact in what they do.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: You've helped, like you said, almost, well, well over a
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: million people nationwide, but over 700,000 here in the Pittsburgh region.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: When you took over, did you ever think that you
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: would be able to touch that many lives and especially
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: as many Pittsburghers as you've done? No, not necessarily.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: I never thought that would be the case. When I started,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: we were mostly a Pennsylvania organization. We were mostly western Pennsylvania,
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: and we've done a lot of growth and expansion in
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: that time period. It took us 40 years to help
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: a million families. We helped almost 300,000 families last year alone. Wow. Okay.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: So the amount of growth that we're having and we're
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: seeing right now is very big, and the need is
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: out there. When we grow, it's because there's a need.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: It's not because we're just growing to grow. It's because
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: there's a need.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: And we touched on affordability, and certainly utility costs have
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: gone through the roof, which is unfortunate. But is this
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: the time of year where you get more people growing?
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: asking for assistance?
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: It is. October and November are very busy months for us.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: And that's for a couple of reasons. One, there are
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: people that have foregone their natural gas since the spring
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: and they've paid down their balances. They've had it turned
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: off and paid down their balances over the summer and
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: are in a situation now where it's getting cold out, right?
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: In the next couple of weeks, we're starting to see
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: you know, late fall, early winter arrive.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: I was going to say, don't you say snow.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: No. Don't you say snow. But, you know, folks are
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: turning their heat on.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: And it's the time of year that stuff happens. So,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: you know, we do get busy this time of the year.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: And then we get very busy again in March and
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: April when people had big winter bills and they need
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: help getting them, you know, getting those paid.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: You're a nonprofit. And obviously you work tightly with the
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: utility companies. And how do you pay for these payment distributions?
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: So, Johnny, it's all donations. The utilities will provide matching dollars.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: They'll provide some additional dollars beyond that. But everything we
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: do is dollars that we raise and gets matched. So
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: we have corporate donations that you'll hear about during the request-a-thon.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: We have people that call in and donate and become
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: a neighborhood hero or just donate what they could donate.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: All those donations get matched, and they all stay right
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: here in Pittsburgh and help us help families. All right.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: I think we were well over $ 100, 000 last year. And
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: that goes far, but it's not nearly the amount that
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: you need to take care of the amount of people
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: who are looking for help. Yeah.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, again, as you talked about, utility costs are up,
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: and they're up for all kind of different reasons. And
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: we're not here to debate those things and do all
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: that stuff. But, you know, utility costs are up. Everything
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: else is up. So, as I mentioned earlier, people do
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: need help, and there's a bigger need today. When utility
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: costs increase... It means that instead of needing $ 300 for
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: us to be able to keep someone's service on or
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: get them turned back on, to the point where we're
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: needing $ 325 or $ 350 to be able to do that.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: So utility cost increases are something that stares us right
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: in the face when we're looking at our average grants.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: And just as much as when someone opens their bill
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: and their individual bill is higher, imagine if you didn't
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: have a way to pay that bill.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Do you get people who are maybe not as conscious like, hey,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: I need to watch where I put my air conditioner
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: or where my heat is? You can't have temperatures in
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: the 80s, you know what I mean? And then you
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: get a bill and it's like, oh, I don't have
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: that amount. I need to be more careful. I need help.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: So you recommend that they contact the utility company first.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Why is that? So the utility company may have another
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: program for you. They might be able to come out
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: and help you with some weatherization or get you connected
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: to a weatherization program to make your home more efficient.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: They might be able to, you know, as you mentioned,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: an air conditioning situation where maybe a room air conditioner
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: and cooling a room or a bedroom or something is
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: a better idea than trying to cool a whole house.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: It'll help you save some dollars. So utilities will work
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: with you to figure some of that stuff out. Maybe
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: you have an old refrigerator. They can help you get
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: something new there or your heating equipment is old and inefficient.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: They might have something for you. That is part of
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: why we tell the utility company or why we want
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: you to contact the utility company. But they also might
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: have a program that is like a state-mandated program that
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: they have that might be able to help lower your
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: bill if you're under a certain income or whatever the
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: case may be, gives you $ 10 or $ 15 or $ 20 off.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: And that sometimes is just enough in a month to
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: make someone's bill go from unpayable to payable.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: And do you get the utilities referring to that? the
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: dollar energy fund.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Absolutely you know so when when someone calls their utility
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: if they know they're eligible for the dollar energy fund
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: the utility will refer them to us and again as
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: i mentioned you can apply online you can visit a
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: community-based organization in the community to apply the utility can
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: work through all those issues with you and what is
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: your website again dollarenergyfund.org.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: We're talking with that chad quinn of the dollar energy
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: fund um You know, whenever we do the request-a-thon, the
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: winter warm-up request-a-thon, which is coming up in a couple
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: of weeks, as a matter of fact, we get a
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: lot of stories. People who said, hey, the Dollar Energy
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Fund helped me either last year or back when I
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: was a kid or, you know, my family helped my family.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: So we get those stories all the time when we
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: do this event. But as an organization, you probably hear
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: those kind of stories every single day.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: It's amazing when you get a thank you card in
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: the mail from someone saying, you know, I was in
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: this situation, you know, and I was losing hope. But
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: because you were able to help me and keep my
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: lights on or keep my water running or keep my
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: home heated, I was able to get back on my
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: feet and, you know, get my kids to, you know,
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: whatever they needed and keep my family together. Those are
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: great stories. And again, you don't meet everybody you help,
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: but when you get one of those cards in a
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: week or you get one letter in a week, that's
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: enough to really keep you focused and keep you grounded
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: on why we do what we do.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Exactly. So you helped in any given year. How many
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Pittsburghers do you generally, how many requests and how many
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: people are you able to help?
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: So Pittsburghers, let me say Pennsylvanians last year, we helped
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: about 30,000 households in the state of Pennsylvania. And when
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: you look at that number, realize that there's about 3.2
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: people In every one of those households. So if you
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: look at 30,000, we're helping about 100,000 people here in
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: the state. People.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: People that need heat. They need electric. They need their
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: water to survive. And that's a cool feeling.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: And as you said, many times they're not requesting it
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: over and over. It's like a one request, one grant,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: and they're done. Right.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Our rules are one, you can request a grant once
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: per year. That's it. And most of the time, as
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: I mentioned, 93% of the time, we don't hear from
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: that household once we help them. We don't hear from
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: them in five years.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: What are some of the frequently asked questions you get
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: about the Dollar Energy Fund? Yeah.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: We don't help with reconnection fees. We don't help with
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: security deposits. So people will ask that type of stuff like, well, hey,
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: I need $ 650 to get my bill turned back on.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Or the cable bill.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: We don't help with cable. Certainly, there's something out there
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: that can help if you reach out to your company
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: from helping with their broadband or something like that. But
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: we don't pay reconnection fees or we don't pay security deposits.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: So One of the other things that's unique about our
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: program is we require you to have demonstrated you've made
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: an effort to pay your bill. You just can't say,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: I'm not paying for a couple months and then come
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: to the Orange Fund to get help. We have what's
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: called a sincere effort of payment. And you had to
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: have paid at least $ 150 towards your utility bills in
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: the previous 90 days, towards that one utility. So what's
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: unique is that someone has to have some effort. They
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: have to demonstrate that they've tried. And then they have
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: to come to us for help. If you haven't paid that,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: we don't help you. So that's a unique thing is
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: that you had to have paid something on your utility
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: bills in the previous 90 days in order to get
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: help from us.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Well, let me ask the follow-up. Why? Why is that required? Why?
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Because we want people to, that are making an effort
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: to do something. We want them to, you know, you
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: have an active role.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: You want them to meet you halfway, basically.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: Exactly, Johnny. And, you know, we don't want someone to say,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: it's okay to not pay your bill. And then it's
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: somebody else's. fault that that's not being paid. We're here
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: to help you. We're here to give you a hand up,
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: not a handout.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: And again, you're asking the community for donations and you're
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: helping them out. And it's a partnership with the utilities.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: They're going to match whatever donation they have. So it's
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: kind of a collective. You're working with a lot of
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: different people. Hundreds of thousands of people are making donations.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: The utilities are trying to do their part. You're trying
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: to do their part. And so you're just asking a
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: little bit of an ask. Like, you know, listen, you've
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: got to take care of this bill somehow, some way, right?
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Exactly. It's a community effort. You know, you've got to
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: pay something on your bills. We'll help you get to
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: the right level, right? Your utilities want to help you.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: They want to keep your service on. But remember, these
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: people that we're helping, they're living in every community in
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: that you think, oh, well, these people live over here.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: They don't live in my neighborhood. They live everywhere. I
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: could show you every zip code in the area. We're
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: helping people in every zip code.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And so let's talk a little bit about the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Winter Warm-Up Request-a-Thon. That's coming up in a couple of weeks.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: And you're going to be asking, well, we're all asking
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: for donations. Now, we're going to give you certain little incentives.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: We'll have little grand prizes and You get a request
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: on the air that's something that you don't normally hear
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: on the radio. But it's an opportunity for us to
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: kind of explain what you guys do. How important is education?
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: It is. And as I mentioned earlier about people not
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: remembering the Dollar Energy Fund and that little box on
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: their bill, there's so many people that have never been
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: in a situation where they needed help with a utility,
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: where they needed help to keep their lights on or
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: their heat on or their water running.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: So, you know, it's... Those situations vary. It could be
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: somebody who's temporary out of work and maybe a paycheck
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: didn't come through or whatever. There's a thousand different, there's
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: a million different reasons why people fall short when it
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: comes to paying their utilities and are asking for assistance. Right.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: And part of our job is creating empathy. I mean,
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: and I'll say this, it's harder for us to communicate
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: of how important that utility service is versus something else.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Like We've all been hungry before, so we know what
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: it's like to be without food, right? We know that
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: feeling and we can say, well, imagine if that was
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: that way for three or four days or five days
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: or six days we've, but you know, we've, we've had
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: our power go out on our house for, because there's
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: a storm or something for an hour. And we're mad
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: at our inconvenience. Oh my God, the life hit the.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: World is ending, right?
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: We're mad. Our cell phone's going to go dead or
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: we can't get to the internet or whatever. But imagine
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: a parent telling their kids. You can't get to the
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Wi-Fi to do your homework or whatever because our power's out.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Our power's been turned off. Or you can't take a
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: shower because we don't have any running water. You can't
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: do this because of that. That's a tough thing for
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: a parent to be in. And that's one of the
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: reasons that we're here doing what we do. All right.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: So we only have a couple of minutes left. So
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: what is the most important thing you want people to
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: know about the Dollar Energy Fund?
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Johnny, I want people to know that their donation is matched. And,
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: you know, 100% of those donations go out to help.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: So when we're here raising dollars, you know, it's so
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: important to realize that, that your dollar stretches further than
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: it does for anything else that you have. And those
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: dollars go right out to help Pittsburghers and help families
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: in need and really keep them safe in their homes
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: and comfortable over the wintertime when without that, you know,
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Things can really go wrong really quickly. All right.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: In a couple of weeks, we're going to launch our
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: winter warm-up request-a-thon where you get to request a song.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: You make a donation to the Dollar Energy Fund. We
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: have incentive prizes. We have grand prizes. But the bottom
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: line is you're helping Pittsburghers, people here, our neighbors right
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: here in our community.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: That's so true. We're helping people that are your neighbors.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: We're helping people who live in your community. We're helping
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: people that their kids go to your kid's school and
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: are part of your school district.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: So if you want to make a donation, again, the
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: utility partners are going to double whatever you donate. And
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: you can do that directly at the website at dollarenergy.org.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Or if you want to have a fun way of
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: making your donation, listen for the Winter Warm-Up Request-a-Thon coming
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: up on 94.5 3WS in a couple of weeks. And
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: it's always a busy couple of days, November 11th and 12th,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: so listen for full details coming up, okay?
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Got to tune in, Johnny, because there's all kind of
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: great things that just happen spontaneously, and if you're not listening...
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: you're going to miss out.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Chad Quinn of the Dollar Energy Fund. Get more information
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: at their website, dollarenergy.org. Thank you, Chad, and I'll see
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: you in a couple of weeks.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Looking forward to it.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: All right. As always, if you have any comments, a concern,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: or an idea for a future program, please email us
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: from this radio station's website. I'm Johnny Hartwell.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for listening. Hey, life doesn't stop
• 29:27
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  Speaker 2: forester and the Ad Council.