Edgecombe County residents will have several chances to apply for heating assistance without having to make a trip to the county Department of Social Services in Tarboro.

Applications for the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program will be accepted beginning Monday, and Social Services is offering applications at seven different places in Edgecombe through Nov. 13.

The first site will be at the Pinetops Town Hall, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday. The next day, Nov. 6, applications will be available at the Walston Center in Tarboro from 9-10:30 a.m.

On Thursday, Nov. 12, the applications will be available at Princeville Town Hall and the E.L. Roberson Center in Tarboro from 9 a.m. to noon, and at Conetoe Baptist Church from 2-4 p.m.

On Nov. 13, the Dunbar Senior Center and the OIC Family Medical Center in Rocky Mount will have them available from 9 a.m. to noon.

DSS Income Maintenance Administrator Bobbie Williams said that if families are approved for the funds, they will receive anywhere from an $85 to a $200 check in the mail in February to help with their heating costs.

While all age groups apply for the assistance in Edgecombe County, Williams said the seven spots outside of DSS's offices were chosen so that older residents "would have easy access" to the application process.

This past February, 2,991 households in Edgecombe County received financial assistance from the federal program, Williams said. "Basically, everybody who gets food stamps (can) take advantage of it," she added.

For residents to be eligible for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, their income can not exceed 110 percent of the poverty level guidelines for annual income.

For a family of four, 110 percent of the federal poverty level is $24,055 in annual income. For a two-person household, it is $16,027. The service is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.