BATON ROUGE — East Baton Rouge Parish residents who need help paying their utility bills have a chance to apply for assistance through the Office of Social Services, which has around $3 million to distribute this year.

The money comes from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The Office of Social Services told WBRZ if residents don't apply for it, the funds go back to the federal government.

More than 400 people attended a community utility assistance event on Tuesday at the Main Library on Goodwood Boulevard. One of those people was Wendy Caffey, who said she was short on her electric bill this month.

"I never lose hope at all because miracles happen every day," Caffey said. "Everybody goes through a hard time sooner or later, and [the Office of Social Services is] the reason people get through those hard times, sometimes."

Linda Jones also attended the event hoping to get help with the electric bill for her two-bedroom apartment. She said the cost of living has gone up since she moved to Baton Rouge about 20 years ago.

"It's not about being ashamed of what you're coming here for. It's about getting help, and there's people here to help us," Jones said.

Office of Social Services Executive Program Administrator Dr. Melanie Washington said helping people is the purpose of the program.

"The majority of people who apply are approved. We put out the eligibility criteria," Washington said.

Information about eligibility criteria can be found here. Washington says her office is seeing the need grow.

"We want people to know about it, and we want to spend the money," she said.

A report by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and Common Good Labs found that 20 percent of families in East Baton Rouge meet the definition of near-poverty and 25 percent are in poverty, both higher than national figures.

Nationally, 18 percent of households are at near-poverty levels and 13 percent meet the poverty threshold.

Washington said that those poverty numbers play a role in determining how much funding her department receives to give out in utility assistance payments.

"That's how they determine how to give us the dollars, based on the need and population of people in poverty. That's why we have the second largest grant from the Louisiana Housing Corporation in the state," Washington said.

Washington added, the Office of Social Services and and Division of Human Development and Services will be in attendance at a Community Opportunity Day to help with utility assistance applications. That event is scheduled for Wednesday, July 29 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Milton J. Womack BREC Center.