TRYING TO STAY WARM: CAPE FAMILY IN UNHEATED HOME

Debbie Hunt is 20. Her son Shane is 3; her other son Kevin is 4 months old.

They live in a two-bedroom house in Cape Girardeau warmed only by a single space heater donated by the Salvation Army. The kitchen is heated by turning on the oven and leaving the door open.

Temperatures these nights are cold enough to freeze the milk in the baby's bottle. The baby's had a few colds so far this winter, and Shane coughs every once in awhile.

Hunt and her sons have been in this predicament since her husband was sent to jail four months ago. They moved in with her grandmother, but when the weather turned cold they discovered her furnace is unsafe.

The furnace has two holes in it the size of quarters. A repairman sent by the Department of Family Services told Hunt the house would fill up with carbon monoxide and could kill them if he lit the furnace.

She was told the heating element is bad, that the house needs a new furnace, and that the cost is about $1,500.

Hunt and her sons live on Aid to Families with Dependent Children. They do not have $1,500. Neither does her grandmother, whose source of income is Social Security benefits.

A few days ago her grandmother was moved into a nursing home "because she wasn't taking care of herself." At least she's warm.

Hunt says she has been to every helping agency in the city looking for help. She signed up for the East Missouri Action Agency weatherization program, but the waiting list is 18-to-24-months long. The Salvation Army pitched in with the space heater.

Both Caring Communities and DFS have visited the home. Caring Communities is helping Hunt with parenting skills. A phone call to DFS was not returned.

The family's plight doesn't fit well into any one agency's niche. One agency moved them into emergency housing for two nights when the first cold snap hit, but no one has offered a solution to the problem, she says.

"I tell them we don't have heat and they say, 'There isn't anything we can do.'"

Hunt's mother, who is employed by a nursing home, can't help. "My mom is not able to help because she's got her own bills," she says. Hunt doesn't know where her father is.

The electric space heater keeps the living room warm during the day. At bedtime, she moves it into the bedroom they all share.

The cost of trying to heat a house without a furnace comes close to $300 a month, she says.

She guesses the only solution is to acquire more space heaters, which people involved with helping agencies acknowledge are dangerous -- especially for children -- and expensive to operate.

"I think she's ultimately going to have to find a new place to live," said Jo Boyer, Jefferson School site manager for Caring Communities.

On Wednesday, the East Missouri Action Agency office in Cape Girardeau decided to send an emergency request for the money necessary to repair or replace the family's furnace.

This was done because children are involved.

Many elderly and disabled people in the region also are in line to receive weatherization money, but unless an emergency arises the waiting list is 18- to 24-months long.

As one staffer said, it's a difficult choice to use the state's money to buy one family a furnace when so many need help.