Contact: Priscilla Knight, 703-392-1580, pknight@novec.com

NORTHERN VIRGINIA—The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative is asking the Northern Virginia community to help local needy families heat their homes this winter.

NOVEC customer-owners can easily donate to the fund by authorizing NOVEC to round up their monthly electric bills to the next dollar. For example, if the bill is $69.54, NOVEC will round it up to $70 and put the extra 46¢ in the Operation Round Up fund. Customers who participate donate on average approximately $6 a year.

Neighbors who are not NOVEC customers, and customers who wish to make additional or one-time donations, can send checks in any amount, payable to NOVEC Operation Round Up, P.O. Box 2710, Manassas, VA 20108.

Operation Round Up sends donations to six organizations, which distribute funds to disadvantaged people to help them pay their heating bills. The organizations are:

• The Salvation Army, Loudoun County
• The Salvation Army, Fairfax County
• Action in Community Through Service (ACTS) , Prince William County
• Securing Emergency Resources through Volunteer Efforts, Inc. (SERVE),   Prince William County
• SERVE, Inc., Stafford County
• Fauquier Family Shelter Services, Fauquier County

Last winter, Operation Round Up participants provided approximately $48,000 to nearly 300 needy families. NOVEC customers have contributed more than $440,000 since the program’s inception in 1997. Because NOVEC absorbs all administration costs, 100 percent of all donations go into the fund. 

“NOVEC and ORU participants believe that small change changes lives,” says Donna Snellings, NOVEC’s community liaison. “More and more area residents need heating assistance, especially this year when the economy is precarious. That’s why we’re urging all customers and neighbors to participate in ORU to help less fortunate neighbors stay warm this winter.”

People who need assistance should contact the Virginia Department of Social Services at 2-1-1 or log ontowww.dss.state.va.us/benefit/ea/fuel/index.html.

NOVEC customers may join ORU by logging onto www.novec.com/oru12 or calling NOVEC’s customer service center, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at 703-335-0500, or toll-free 1-888-335-0500.  Customers who sign up to participate by December 5, 2008, will be entered into a drawing for VISA gift card prizes.