By Travis Gettys
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Joe Ross (left) and Mario Roberts install a flexible metal liner in Faye Dungan's chimney. After paying to have her furnace fixed recently, the retiree couldn't afford chimney repairs to her Williamstown home. The Cincinnati Enquirer/PATRICK REDDY

Monthly utility bills rarely contain good news in the dead of winter, but last month Faye Dungan's Cinergy invoice contained a ray of hope.

Dungan knew her chimney leaked, but she could scarcely afford to fix it after spending money recently to repair her furnace.

Her January gas bill included a flier advertising People Working Cooperatively, a nonprofit agency that provides low-income homeowners with necessary repairs, and she found she qualified for their help.

"I was having to borrow money (to fix the chimney), so this is a lifesaver," said Dungan, who lives on a state pension and Social Security.

On the roof of Dungan's Williamstown home, where she has lived since 1963, carpenter Mario Roberts patched the leak with roofing cement.

"See this algae growing?" Roberts asked, pointing at the chimney mortar. "That's how you can tell there's moisture in there."

Roberts and HVAC technician Joe Ross then fed an aluminum tube down the chimney to prevent moisture buildup, which Ross said could eventually trap deadly furnace gases.

"Our mission is to keep people in their homes," said Jock Pitts, CEO of People Working Cooperatively. "Where exactly would they go if they had no heat and they couldn't afford to fix the furnace?"

The organization employs almost 70 full-time professionals such as Roberts and Ross, in addition to what Pitts called "an army of volunteers."

Many of those volunteers come from Cinergy.

"Once you see what People Working Cooperatively does and how big their hearts are, it's kind of contagious," said Kathy Schroeder, a Cinergy manager who raises money for the group.

Cinergy Foundation last year contributed $25,000 to People Working Cooperatively as part of $2.9 million awarded to area charities.

Pitts said Cinergy's help has been invaluable to People Working Cooperatively.

"They're the guys in the white hats for me," he said.

Dungan, who volunteers frequently for St. Elizabeth Hospice, said she is "thrilled to death" that she found out about People Working Cooperatively.

"If you know the right people to call, there's a lot of help out there," Dungan said.

E-mail tgettys@enquirer.com