Share the Warmth: Company Pledges to Help Northeast Poor Pay Winter Heating Bills by Giving Cash from Environmental Projects

A sunny Southern California producer of custom awnings that keep homes cool in summer today pledged to donate a potentially sizable amount of cash to help low-income families in the frigid Northeast heat their homes this winter - the money coming from company projects that meet certain environmental sustainability parameters. Eide Industries (http://www.eideindustries.com) said it will send $100 to the nonprofit Dollar Energy Fund each time Eide during 2009 manufactures and installs a fabric-based shade project registered with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

Cerritos, Calif. (PRWEB) November 18, 2008 -- Despite recent sharp declines in fuel prices, America's poor can expect to spend four times as much of their income trying to keep warm this winter than everyone else, according to the federally created Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program (http://www.supportliheap.org/resources/Families_Vulnerable.pdf).

And, should the cost of oil again soar, the poor will be faced with still greater seasonal hardship.

But if one modestly-sized California company has anything to say about it, disadvantaged households in the Northeast will worry a bit less about paying their heating bills.

Eide Industries (http://www.eideindustries.com) - a producer of custom awnings and other architectural shade systems - today pledged to donate $100 to a nonprofit energy assistance fund each time the company during 2009 manufactures and installs a fabric-based shade project registered with one of the nation's premiere environmental sustainability programs.

The recipient of the forthcoming donations is the Dollar Energy Fund (http://www.dollarenergy.org/), a member of the National Fuel Funds Network that jointly raises $100 million annually on behalf of people who need financial assistance in order to pay their utility bills.

Eide chose the Dollar Energy Fund because the award-winning organization partners with 17 utility companies across Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey - a populous region whose poor are expected to be particularly hard-hit this winter by the recent spikes in energy costs.

Eide Industries was spurred to make its donation pledge on behalf of hardship households after a home heating assistance bill failed to pass the Senate in July.

"That failure was particularly disappointing because the bill had strong bipartisan support, with 52 co-sponsors signed on to it," says Don Araiza, company president.

By tying its charitable giving to environmental sustainability, Eide hopes to address two pressing issues at the same time. "We felt our initiative to help struggling families would have the most meaning if we were to stipulate that the projects triggering a donation be registered with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program - or LEED (http://www.usgbc.org/)," says Araiza.

The LEED program was developed in 1998 by the U.S. Green Building Council to provide standards for environmentally sustainable construction. Since then, more than 14,000 projects across the U.S. and 30 nations involving more than 1 billion square feet of developed area have been completed in accordance with the requirements of LEED.

ABOUT EIDE INDUSTRIES: Eide Industries - started in 1938 and today operating from a 41,000-square-foot facility in Cerritos, Calif. - offers engineering, industrial sewn products, large-scale shading systems and custom-welded metal products. For more information, contact Eide Industries at (800) 422-6827 or (562) 402-8335.

For more information about the Dollar Energy Fund, contact the organization at (412) 431-2800 or (800) 683-7036.

Contact:

Ken Huffer

Eide Industries

562-402-8335 ext.145

Fax 562-9242233

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