According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, “nearly a third of U.S. households struggle to afford their energy bills, with one in five cutting back on or forgoing necessities such as food or medicine to pay for electricity and heat.” Providing a pathway to energy efficiency and affordability to low income and senior Mainers is central to WindowDressers’ mission .Each season, WindowDressers gives between 25% – 35% of the inserts we construct to low income households for no cost.  

We cover the costs of our low income program with a combination of donations from individuals, and grants. This year, many of the local Community Workshops wrote for and received grants from the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund (NEGEF) to provide inserts for low income households. NEGEF has generously provided a combined total of $11,515 to the South Portland, Buxton/Gorham, Machias, Belfast, Dover-Foxcroft and Ellsworth!

NEGEF promotes a “change versus charity” model of addressing root causes to social inequity— a perfect fit for WindowDressers approach of getting people involved in transforming their communities at the same time that they improve their own living situation. WindowDressers is truly grassroots, and we could not carry on our work without the support of organizations like the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund. Thank you NEGEF!

We couldn’t do any of our work without grassroots, community engagement. Sign up to volunteer today! https://windowdressers.org/volunteer/