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Dear Members, Happy New Year.
As a follow-up to November's newsletter on Medicare
Prescription Drug Coverage Program - Part D:
Nina Lynch, Office of the Aging, took time from her busy
schedule to clarify two points for Seniors already enrolled in NY EPIC
Program for me.
EPIC is considered a "credible" alternative to Medicare Part
D. This means that EPIC is as good as or better than Medicare -
Part D. Enrolled seniors should have received a letter from EPIC
with this information. It is important to save the letter.
Also, if EPIC is ever phased out, seniors can switch to a Medicare -
Part D Plan without a penalty.
News Flash: As per January 24 newspaper, Governor Pataki's new proposal will force 91,000 low-income seniors enrolled in the EPIC (Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage) to transfer to the new Medicare drug plan. Evidently, very few of the 358,000 New York seniors on EPIC were enticed by the Medicare Part D. I am sure there will be more to this story in days to come. All seniors ( Over 65) must decide what is best for them by
May 15, 2006. To check the previous newsletter for telephone
numbers and other information, visit SVDP web site at http://www.angelfirecom/ny3/stcolumbasvdp/.
At our January 11, 2006 meeting, Donna Carroll, Central
Hudson Senior Consumer Outreach Representative, spoke to us about
Central Hudson's commitment to help area residence pay their
bill. Please tell your clients it is okay to call Central Hudson
for help when they are having difficulties -- especially if the
problems are related to a medical emergency. It is the first
step. It is in Central Hudson's best interest to advise customers
of state and federal benefits available to them.
Central Hudson has many rules for maintaining the safety of
a family during the cold winter months. Even so, a
Termination Notice may mean the installation of a "load limiter" which
will allow only essential service to the house.
Usually one past due bill can be negotiated to be paid over
time if all future bills remain current. This winter,
further leniency MAY be offered.
I recently read that the federally funded program called HEAP - Home Energy Assistance Program - has had additional funds granted in the amount of $200 million for this heating season.
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<>People on Food Stamps and Social Service Assistance will receive HEAP benefits with no additional application. However, it is not necessary to be on an assistance program to apply. Your client family may be eligible if their income is at or below guidelines for family size, or if they receive CI, or if they live in subsidized housing and pay heating costs themselves. For more information call toll free - 1 - 800-342-3009
or locally 845/486-3249 (Office Hours 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM)
On our web site, see the newsletter for March 2001 for more
information on HEAP though the monthly income tiers are outdated.
If your client is denied benefits, it is important to keep
the denial letter. Dutchess Outreach will advocate for your
client. Their telephone number is 845/454-3792.
Also, Central Hudson's Good Neighbor Fund is available once
other agencies have exhausted or have denied help.
The Good Neighbor Fund is administered by the Salvation Army
though the client must call Central Hudson's Call Center at
1-800-527-2714 first.
Poughkeepsie Salvation Army Corp
Administrator Jan Brooks 845/471-1210 Beacon/Fishkill Salvation Army Corp Administrator Pattie O'Dell
845/831-1253
Since the fund was established in 1985, $1.6 million has
been raised through customer and shareholder contributions and has
benefited more than 10,573 households. See April 2000 newsletter
on our web site for information on the program.
Our next meeting will be February 8th at 7 PM in the St.
Denis/St. Columba School Library. Your input is always needed.
Sincerely, Carole Grafer, President
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St. Vincent de Paul Society Carole called the meeting to order at 7:07 pm.The prayer was a reading from Psalm 41 verses 1-4. The minutes were read by Colleen Cerone; accepted by Linda Hunt; and seconded by Joanne Bunnell. In attendance were Coleen Cerone, Bucky Ryan, Jack Kiley, Linda Hunt, Nick Dono, Bill and Carole Grafer, Betty Riggio, Joanne Bunnell, and Barbara Yannaco. Our HPNAP report for December 2005: We served 52 households which included 99 children, 98 adults, and 7 elderly. We distributed 102 Christmas baskets. Colleen Cerone resigned as recording secretary. Barbara Yannaco has volunteered to give it a try. We received a very nice Christmas card from Kathleen Steiger and the health ministry. Since Jack will be sending out a newsletter in February he will need to have the minutes by February 1st. We need to update both our client and membership lists. We will need to get the disks from Michael Sicard in order to do the membership list. Carole and Linda will follow up on this. The Operational Supplement report that was due on January 1st was submitted on time by Carole Grafer. Bucky will join Carole, Bill, and Nick on the next shopping trip to the food bank on January 25th. Linda and Betty will meet them at the food closet to help them unload. A note was put in the St. Columba bulletin on January 8th reminding parishioners of our organization and what we do. The next notice will contain a mention of our geographic boundaries. The Religious Education program at Blessed Kateri will have a drive for cleaning supplies and other non food items during the middle two weeks of February. Carole has also sent a letter to Blessed Kateri to ask them if they will be having a 2nd collection for us again this year. JoAnn DiSalvo is looking into whether or not St. Denis will be hosting a “Souper Bowl” again this year. There were some problems with the distribution of the Christmas baskets which we will need to discuss. Since we have a guest speaker tonight we will table those discussions until the February meeting. |
An initial contact has been made with Father Mike about moving our web site to St. Columba’s server. Thank you to Nick and Jack for their work on our newsletter. Donna Carroll from Central Hudson was our guest speaker. She gave us information on how to help our clients who are having trouble paying their gas or electric bill. She also gave us some phone numbers that may be very useful in helping our clients. The meeting ended at 8:45 pm. SVDP Meeting Schedule February 8, 2006 March 8, 2006 April 12, 2006 Our meetings are open to all and we welcome new members. We meet in St. Denis/St. Columba school library at 7 PM. LINDA'S CORNER
There were 102 baskets given out at Christmas. The baskets were great. There were a lot of nice things. I have received several thank you cards as well as verbal thank yous. I want to thank troop 40 for all of their continuous help and all the effort they put into the baskets. We greatly appreciate in. I would like to thank all of our members who worked so hard to help with the baskets and to all our members who give of their time to help with clients and the food pantry. And thank you Nick and Jack for all your help. Thank you to Carol and Bill and Chuck and Joanne who helped the week of Christmas as well. I greatly appreciate everyone's help from my heart. Thank you. |