Propane Heating Supplement & Career Opportunity for SNAP Recipients
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) has made several recent announcements. On November 20th, DHHR announced that they are providing a supplemental payment to help with winter heating bills to residents who received a regular Low Income Energy Assistance Program last winter and who heat with propane. Those qualified residents will receive an additional automatic payment of $84.00 to assist them with their propane costs.
DHHR said these supplemental payments will help offset the propane heating costs for the 2,977 eligible families. These payments were made possible by a $250,000 donation which resulted from a class action lawsuit settlement in the Swiger V. AmeriGas case, which was approved by Judge Robert B. Stone of the Monongalia County Circuit Court.
Additionally, the DHHR announced a new job placement and training program within the DHHR’s Bureau for Family Assistance Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The DHHR, in partnership with the 128-year-old Blenko Glass Company of Milton, WV will provide paid on-the-job training and apprenticeship opportunities to SNAP recipients in the state
This Blenko Glass Company learn-and-earn model Glass Worker Apprenticeship is an industry-driven career pathway which the company uses to develop its future workforce. The participants obtain paid work experience, classroom instruction by a veteran glass artist, a nationally recognized portable certificate and the equivalent of an associate’s degree.
Individuals who are currently enrolled in, or potentially eligible for SNAP benefits who are interested in this paid placement at the Blenko Glass company should contact their local DHHR office, which here in Pocahontas County is located at 211 Valhalla Lane in Marlinton, phone number 304-799-2540, and ask to be connected to the SNAP Employment and Training (or E&T.)
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