Neighbors are visiting elders this week, wading through snow drifts to check the fuel gauge on heating oil tanks. Imagine that apprehensive look in an elder’s eyes when they learn how much oil is left. Next, there is the mental calculation behind those eyes: “Do I buy oil, food or medicine this month?”

These are cold, hard choices. You can make them less cold.

Freeport Community Services knows those who are in need. The director, Bob Lyman, told me this is a particularly tough year for folks and for the oil fund. Some people who would always make a donation are, this year, in need of help.

FCS, if they have your donation, can continue to give qualifying people 50 gallons of oil, costing about $200. Fifty gallons does not last a long time, especially in an under-insulated mobile home or old drafty house. But 50 gallons helps.

Freeport Community Services’ annual “Freeze Out” Food and Fuel Drive takes place from 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, to 10 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 17. Sue Mack and others will stand outside First Parish Church on Main Street for those 24 hours, collecting donations for the Kaplan Oil Fund and the food pantry.

My wife and I will be dropping off a check and some canned goods and thanking Sue and all of her volunteers. I hope you join us, mail a donation or call FCS at 865-3985. Also, if you have a tank of oil available for donation, let Sue know.

David Webster
Freeport