Inspired by a CNN article, two managers of Atlantic Coast Mortgage’s Owings Mills branch have raised more than $25,000 to help cover the bills of families facing electricity shutdowns in Pikesville, Owings Mills and Reisterstown.
Pikesville resident Neil Sweren was the first to read the CNN article about a Florida man who donated nearly $8,000 to cover the utility bills of 114 households facing shutdowns in his area. Sweren forwarded the article to his colleague, Scott Eisgrau.
Although Sweren made no specific request, Eisgrau immediately responded, “I’m in.”
“When Neil came to me with this, it just felt right,” said Eisgrau, who lives in Reisterstown. “We wanted to raise money to help people in the local community who really needed the help.”
Said Sweren: “I realized that so many people literally don’t have $100 to pay their electricity bills, and for a relatively small amount of money we could help a relatively large number of people. We thought, ‘Let’s just stay in our own backyard, help our own neighbors.’ That’s what the guy in Florida did.”
After donating $3,000 on their own, Eisgrau and Sweren approached Atlantic Coast Mortgage CEO Timur Tunador about matching their gift. Tunador challenged them to raise another $3,000 and agreed to match the additional amount.
Between the contributions of the company, Sweren, Eisgrau and their family and friends, $25,240.17 has been raised to assist 59 households in covering Baltimore Gas & Electric accounts that were facing imminent shutoffs or were otherwise delinquent.
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Larry Hogan’s moratorium on utility service shutoffs gave residents some relief. But last winter when the moratorium was lifted, struggling residents faced mounting bills.
Since many people are working from home and schooling their children at home, their electricity usage has increased.
“These are literally the people we live and work with,” said Sweren. “A lot of people cannot identify with what it might be like to be a single mom or elderly couple facing a utility shutoff. Even people I know who have struggled financially over the years, I don’t know if they’ve struggled at the level of having to choose between food and electricity.”
Sweren and Eisgrau worked with the office of Baltimore County Executive John “Johnny O” Olszewski Jr. to establish the ACM Cares: Local Energy Fund. The county executive’s office connected Sweren and Eisgrau with the Fuel Fund of Maryland, a nonprofit that assists residents who cannot afford to pay their utility bills.
The Fuel Fund typically operates by covering one-third of a resident’s utility bill balance and neutralizes one-third of the amount through a credit system with BGE, requiring the account holder to pay the remaining third. In the case of donations from the ACM fund, the recipients’ bills were covered in their entirety.
“To see how many people needed the help and couldn’t pay one-third of their bill was a little bit eye-opening,” said Sweren.
The donations raised by Sweren, Eisgrau and ACM helped residents facing challenges during the pandemic, including layoffs and unexpected medical issues.
“One woman had tears coming down her face when she was told the entire balance was covered,” said Debbie Brown, director of the Fuel Fund. “A lot of people are asking, ‘Are you for real?’ It’s been amazing to see the gratitude and emotion coming from clients.”
Brown said one recipient works as a substitute teacher for Baltimore County Public Schools and could not apply for unemployment without losing her position. In the meantime, she helps her own children with online schooling. This was the first time she had to apply for financial help, Brown said.
Another recipient, who described this year as the worst in her life, was facing a utility bill of $2,300, an amount that was covered completely, said Brown
The ACM campaign is still live at The Fuel Fund website, where people can donate by selecting the ACM campaign from the dropdown campaign options, and Sweren and Eisgrau plan to run a similar campaign again during the holiday season later this year.
“We did this with no expectation, but to see the way it grew exponentially was awesome,” said Eisgrau, who is involved in the nonprofit the Sports Boosters of Maryland, which supports kids in athletics.
Brown said the ACM project offers a blueprint for future initiatives in which the Fuel Fund can work with other companies seeking to make an impact in their own community.
“It’s been an interesting year but there have been some amazing silver linings, and this was one of them,” said Brown. “One simple inquiry raised over $25,000 dollars. A simple idea has just blossomed into a wonderful partnership.”
Hanni R. Werner is a local freelance writer.
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