Hundreds line up in the cold for help heating homes | ajc.com

Hundreds line up in the cold for help heating homes

By Mike Morris and John Spink

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As metro Atlanta's temperatures grow colder, the demand for heat is, well, heating up.

Enlarge photo

John Spink jspink@ajc.comLecher Eady (left) the mother of 16-month old triplets waited since midnight in the cold for hopes of getting financial assistance Thursday Dec.2, 2010 at the Mansour Center in Marietta. The single mother who has held 3 different jobs in 2010 is laid off from health care work.

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A day after hundreds of people queued up outside a Marietta community center to apply for assistance with heat and power bills, hopeful applicants began lining up again around midnight, waiting in the sub-freezing temperatures for the doors to open Thursday morning.

This time, however, officials let those in line come into the Mansour Center on Roswell Street an hour early at 7:30 and get relief from temperatures that dropped to 27 degrees.

“We’re freezing,” said Lecher Eady, a Marietta mother who arrived at midnight seeking help with her bills. “Our hands are cold, our feet are cold.”

Eady, the mother of triplets in diapers, said she has been out of work since August.

“I’ve had three jobs this year, and I’ve been laid off from all three,” she said. “I’m grateful just to get any type of help they’ll give me.”

Eady said she is trying to start a nonprofit organization, “Babies Need Diapers,” that would provide diapers to low-income single mothers.