Partnering Organizations: Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority and the Central Council Tlingit-Haida Regional Indian Tribes

Challenge: The housing authority needed to help tribal members residing in remote locations stay warm through tough winters.

Solution: We shipped 5,000 Heat Smart kits to help keep tribal members warm. Since shipping costs to Alaska are so high, Heat Smart and Northwest Woolen donated shipping the kits to the U.S. border in Washington state, where the tribes had arranged for shipping to Juena by Alaska Shipping.

Partnering Organization: State of California Human Services Department

Challenge:  Needed to help low-income single mothers who had enrolled in an energy efficiency program.
Solution: 44,000 of our blankets were part of a package that included a variety of energy efficiency aids, and were distributed to tens of thousands of families. The program was successful in large part because California combined it with an extensive effort to educate families who were taking advantage of the program to try to live a more efficient lifestyle.

Partnering Organization: Delaware Health and Social Services

Challenge: The Office of Community Services wanted to provide additional assistance to LIHEAP clients to prepare for a tough winters ahead.

Solution: They have ordered three shipments over three years of Heat Smart kits totaling 2,500 to help keep LIHEAP clients warm

Partnering Organization: National Grid

Challenge: Huge storms and outages required an extra level of disaster relief. Superstorm Sandy and a 2013 ice storm left hundreds of thousands without power and heat. National Grid called on Heat Smart to provide warmth and comfort.

Solution: After Superstorm Sandy, Heat Smart rushed 42,000 blankets within three days to be distributed to those without power. After the 2013 ice storm in upstate New York, Heat Smart overnighted 3,000 blankets to National Grid to distribute to households without heat, providing one warm spot in a bleak storm.

Partnering Organization: State of Maine

Challenge: Many households were struggling to make ends meet, and the state was struggling with stretching their heating assistance dollars to keep pace with rising energy costs.

Solution: The state launched Operation Keep ME Warm, as an initiative that began weatherproofing thousands of households a year. They supplemented this effort by working with Heat Smart to encourage efficient behavior, distributing 5,000 blankets.

Partnering Organization: State of Mississippi Human Services Department

Challenge: The Mississippi Department of Human Services provides LIHEAP services throughout the state. Because of record low temperatures, many qualified households had heating systems that were less than adequate for proper heating.

Solution: We’ve shipped 14,000 Heat Smart kits over the past two years to help keep LIHEAP clients warm. Another shipment is pending as the need continues to grow.

Partnering Organizations: Duke Energy, the North Carolina Community Action Association, I-Care

Challenge: Launch a 2014-2015 winter energy use pilot program for Duke Energy electric heat customers in low-income areas to measure customer attitudes, behavior change, and energy savings. The goal is to provide hard data to expand the program going forward.

Solution: We recruited 33 families who pledged to turn their heat down 7 to 8 degrees overnight in exchange for a Heat Smart kit for every occupied bed in the home. Additionally, we recruited a control group to ensure statistical accuracy. The pilot is currently underway and we’ll be measuring results in the spring.

Partnering Organizations: Several CAP agencies in rural areas

Challenge: Tired of waiting for government energy efficiency programs to work, these organizations moved forward to work with Heat Smart and create an efficiency program with a big impact.

Solution: We sent 10,000 blankets to help families in remote locations who had poor heating and very little weatherization.