The local church is one of the places to which people turn for help in a crisis. This winter, congregations around the state are stretching their already tight budgets further than in years past to help people in need in their communities.

Worshippers are keeping their coats on during services because thermostats have been turned down, and at least one Down East church has closed its doors for 2 1/2 months because of the high cost of heating oil. Sewall Memorial Congregational Church in Robbinston closed on Epiphany Sunday, Jan. 6, and will reopen on Palm Sunday, March 16.

The first priority is helping people stay safe and warm as the cost of heating oil continues to rise.

“Where it’s really hit hard is with our people, and people in the area,” the Rev. Carolyn Metzler, rector of St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Winn, said recently in an e-mail message. “Many people are needing to choose between heat, food, electricity and prescription drugs.

“Attendance at church is down, largely because some of our farther-away people don’t have the gas to get there,” she continued. “Our community activities we plan for a time when we’re already there, instead of having people come back another time. Our discretionary fund has taken many hits. In one 31/2-week period, I had 14 hits for fuel alone.”

The small congregation outside Lincoln has given away about $13,000 in the past four years to help people in a variety of ways, Metzler said, noting that people who can afford to give have been generous.

“That’s a huge amount of money for a little church like ours,” she said. “We can only give on what God has already given us.”

Metzler does her part, too, by donating her funeral honorariums to the fund.

Last month, the Interfaith Fuel Assistance program sent an urgent plea seeking additional donations because of the high demand for assistance.

“We’ve had a great response from the community and local churches for financial support and are working hard to spread the money to as many people as possible,” said the Rev. David Abbott, pastor of the Belfast United Methodist Church who heads the IFF.

The program grew out of a fuel purchasing cooperative created about five years ago by churches in the Belfast and Searsport area which form the Greater Bay Area Ministerium. About 5,000 gallons of heating oil and 4,000 gallons of kerosene were set aside this season for the IFF, according to administrator Betty York.

“The challenge is that at an average of almost $250 per request, the money does not last long,” she said in January. “As a matter of fact, we’ve had to turn away a number of requests … because we don’t have the resources to pay for the fuel that we’ve reserved at this great price.”

The IFF requires individuals first to talk with their towns about general assistance and schedule an appointment with Waldo CAP to talk about LIHEAP funding, York said. People then complete an IFF application and, in most cases, up to 100 gallons of oil is delivered.

Catholic churches around the state last month took up a second collection designated for local fuel assistance at weekend Masses. Some parishes gave the money collected to organizations already set up to distribute funds, such as Penquis, according to Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. Others distributed it to congregants and community members.

St. John Catholic Church in Bangor netted about $5,000, the Rev. Richard McLaughlin, pastor, said after Mass on Ash Wednesday. It quickly was distributed to the needy.

Clergy are finding their dollars simply aren’t stretching as far as they did two or three years ago.

“Our attending membership is helped as needed,” the Rev. Richard Rockwell, pastor of Family Bible Church in Ellsworth, said in an e-mail. “Such help is really nothing new for our church.

“I do not believe we have seen a much greater community-congregation demand for assistance this winter over previous years,” he continued. “It is just that the cost of helping someone is much greater.”

In addition to paying more to heat their facilities, churches are paying more to have their parking lots plowed and sanded because of the high number of storms Maine has experienced compared with recent years, he said. Most churches are turning down thermostats and working to lower costs.

St. Thomas has always been very frugal with fuel consumption, according to Metzler.

“We keep the thermostats way down during the week,” the rector said. “When I meet people there for counseling or spiritual direction, I do turn the heat up for them. If it’s just me, I have brought in an electric heater which does a nice job in my little office.”

The Catholic churches in Old Town and Orono were able to lock in fuel at last year’s prices with a local dealer who’s a congregant, the Rev. Wilfred “Bill” Labbe said recently. That price will have to be renegotiated before next winter and the cost of heating Holy Family in Old Town, the largest church in the Two Rivers Catholic Community, is estimated to rise $25,000, the priest said.

Stonington United Methodist Church renovated and insulated its building before the cost of heating oil rose so dramatically, said the Rev. Valerie Duecker, pastor. That has kept fuel costs from hampering their operations.

The church also rents space to Downeast Horizon, a day center for adults with developmental disabilities. St. Brendan the Navigator Episcopal Church also pays the church to conduct Sunday worship services in the sanctuary.

“We’re trying to have our building used by more community groups to aid the community as well as spread out our costs,” Duecker said. “It’s hard to watch a building being used only one day a week and have to heat it as well.”

The struggle churches have faced this winter in trying to balance their own heating needs with their Christian mission to help those in need is not expected to lessen anytime soon.

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

990-8207

To help area churches

Interfaith Fuel Fund

c/o Belfast United Methodist Church

23 Mill Lane

Belfast, ME 04915

Discretionary Fund

Family Bible Church

460 High St.

Ellsworth, ME 04605

Good Neighbor Fund

United Christian Church

P.O. Box 288

Lincolnville Center, ME 04850

Discretionary Account

Stonington United Methodist Church

10 Seabreeze Ave.

Stonington, ME 04681

St. Thomas’ Discretionary Fund

St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church

P.O. Box 106

Winn, ME 04495