Entergy : Low-Income Expo Aims to Help Southwest Mississippians

Expo to offer financial help, other types of assistance

McComb, Miss. - Entergy Mississippi, Inc., in conjunction with the low income advocacy agencies that service Pike, Walthall, Amite, Wilkinson, Lincoln, Lawrence and Franklin counties, is sponsoring a Low-Income Expo for those who need financial and other types of assistance.

The Expo will be held on Tuesday, July 29, from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at the Old Summit Skating Rink, 5149 Highway 98 West in Summit.

"There are many channels for assistance that are sometimes not known to our customers who need some help," said Beulah Rogers, Entergy Mississippi customer service assistant in McComb.  "We encourage everyone to come by and visit with local agencies that are here to help them."

Some of the participating agencies and the services they provide are Southwest Mississippi Opportunity (energy assistance, prescription assistance and case management); The Salvation Army (energy assistance, fire victim assistance, rental assistance and a food pantry); Mississippi Lifeline (energy assistance, mortgage/rental assistance, prescription assistance and the crisis line); AJFC Community Action Agency which serves Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Lincoln and Claiborne counties (energy assistance, emergency assistance, Head Start, food voucher program and educational/employment assistance); St. Andrews Mission (energy assistance, free medical clinic, prescription assistance, soup kitchen, homeless shelter for men and GED classes); Southwest Mississippi Planning & Development (respite care for the aging, Medical Waiver program, SBA loan program, grant writing assistance, child care division and preventative health department); United States Department of Agriculture ( assistance for first time home buyers and for those who have been through foreclosure); Division of Medicaid (information on recent changes to Medicaid); South Central Community Action Agency (weatherization program); Mississippi Department of Human Services (TANF program); Women in Need of God's Shelter (energy assistance, battered woman's shelter, counseling, education, legal and rental assistance, and a food pantry); Mississippi Employment Commission (vocational training assistance); Jefferson Comprehensive Health ( prescription assistance and a free clinic); Camellia Home Health (energy assistance and hospice) and McComb Interdenominational Care Association (food pantry, assistance after a fire and women and children's shelter).

"We expanded the counties that are included so our entire region of the state is covered," continued Rogers, who came up with the idea for the Expos.  "I help many people at our Customer Assistance Desk, and this seemed like a good idea to bring all the resources together in one place at one time to offer help to those in need."

Entergy Mississippi, Inc. provides electricity to approximately 441,000 customers in 45 counties. It is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including more than 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation's leading nuclear generators. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $10 billion and approximately 15,000 employees.