No one should have to choose between keeping the lights on and paying for food or medicine.  However, we understand that many of our older adult customers and customers with disabilities live on low or fixed incomes. Through Entergy’s The Power to Care program, employees and generous customers throughout our service territory help provide emergency bill payment assistance to these customers to help bridge the gap.

Through partnerships with local nonprofit agencies, the program has already supported more than 1,200 Arkansas families this year, providing an average of $327 in assistance per household.

Entergy Arkansas Customer Service Manager Barbara Merrick has worked for the company for nearly 30 years and talks to customers on a day-to-day basis. In that time, she has seen the need firsthand She says being able to share that help is available gives customers a sense of comfort. That’s why she’s been contributing to The Power to Care throughout her career.

“It was great to be able to tell them about the program and how to get help,’” Merrick said. “I could hear the relief in their voices, that there is someone out there trying to help them.”

For Barbara, the program reflects Entergy Arkansas’s commitment to caring for those who have spent their lives caring for others.

“That’s what gets me the most, is how we are able to help some of our elderly customers because they have worked their whole lives,” Merrick said. “I want them to be able to enjoy their golden years and not have to struggle.”

Entergy Arkansas Senior Manager Drew Clem echoes that sentiment, looking back to the customers he met early in his career working in power restoration.

“Working in low-income areas, I saw how tough things could be,” Clem said. “It definitely gives me some pride knowing I’m helping our customers make ends meet.”

For Clem, it’s more than just a donation, it’s a promise to help customers through life’s most difficult moments.

“It’s a wonderful program that gives back to our communities,” Clem said. “If you step up and do it, hopefully others will follow and every little bit helps.”

Thanks to employees, non-profit partners and supporters statewide, The Power to Care continues to offer comfort, stability and dignity to families in need. To learn more about The Power to Care program, visit our website.