Rotary Senior Winterization Project

REGION -- The River Valley Rotary Club is sponsoring their fourth annual Rotary Senior Winterization Project on Saturday, October 13.

The Rotary Club volunteer weatherization teams will spread out across the towns of Rumford, Mexico, Dixfield and Peru in a one-day blitz to perform energy saving measures on the homes of their elderly neighbors.

The goal of this event is to provide area homes with simple winterization measures such as caulking, weather-stripping, window plastic, door sweeps and other draft reducing techniques. The club has provided winterization services to over 100 local homes in the area.

The project aims to “keep the weather outside” for the targeted homes, reduce their home energy consumption, save them money on their winter heating bills and provide educational materials on how to lower their home energy costs, along with other resources.

If you or someone you know is 60 or older and owns their own home, contact the River Valley Healthy Communities at 364-7408 to obtain an application. Applications must be received before September 24 to allow the Rotary Club to conduct a winterization assessment of each home in advance to determine what measures are needed and to develop a list of needed supplies and materials.

This is a great opportunity to lend a helping hand for service clubs, civic and fraternal groups, church groups, neighborhood associations, businesses, employee groups and other organizations.

All community groups are invited to participate and to recruit one or more four- to six-person teams to help with this worthwhile and much-needed project. Organizations can signup to participate and report their team leaders by calling 364-7408. All teams are asked to be registered by September 24. The success of this project will depend on the number of volunteer teams that signup to participate.

Cash donations are being accepted to provide for the great amount of supplies and materials that will be needed. Checks should be made payable to River Valley Rotary Club and can be mailed to Paul Jones, treasurer, River Valley Rotary Club, P.O. Box 451, Dixfield, ME 04224.

In-kind donations of weatherization supplies and materials are also needed and appreciated. For more information, call Patty Duguay at 364-7408.