Missouri Energycare Inc

EnergyCare serves vulnerable, low-income people in St. Louis who are facing energy poverty. Energy poverty occurs where people cannot afford to keep their homes safely warm in winter or cool in summer. For example:

• Elderly people, who can't afford to repair their furnaces, wearing coats to bed and using an open ovens to stay warm
• People with serious medical problems getting sicker because they are exposed to dangerously high temperatures in houses without air conditioning
• Whole families skipping meals so they can pay extremely high utility bills

Every day EnergyCare meets people facing problems like these. In response we provide practical services that help our clients address the immediate causes of their problems.

The people EnergyCare serves are from some of the most deprived communities in the USA. Living well below the poverty line, they face severe economic hardship: 73% need help getting enough to eat, 61% struggle to stay housed and 34% struggle to fill their prescriptions. They are people like Mary and Eddie:

At 67 years old, Mary suffered with thyroid problems and osteoarthritis. When her furnace broke down during the winter of 2013/14 Mary was in a tough situation; she couldn’t afford to have it fixed and without family in St. Louis she had no-one to turn to. “If I’d stayed here I would’ve froze to death; I’m human just like everybody else… I would’ve had to go to a shelter.” Fortunately EnergyCare could provide Mary with an electric heater to keep her safe in the immediate term. Shortly after we were also able to have her furnace repaired. Mary was so grateful for the assistance; she said “God is good; I sure appreciate you all.”

Eddie has prostate cancer, HIV/AIDS and has also suffered a severe stroke. He lives alone in an apartment which had no air conditioning. When EnergyCare installed a simple window air conditioner at his home during the summer of 2012 – the hottest since 1936 – he said, “I thank you and your organization for helping an old man get a good night’s rest tonight.”