Assistance Recipients Become Program Spokespersons

Latasha Peeples and her grandmother Addie Mitchell once received utility assistance from the Plus-1 program, now they are lending their voices to encourage others to give to the program. Latasha and her grandmother will be featured in a series of public service announcements on television, radio and social media encouraging the community to give to the program.

Latasha was the grand champion of the Lip Sync Plus contest hosted by MLGW and MIFA earlier this year. She was inspired to enter the contest because of the help her family previously received from the program.  Latasha’s grandmother raised her from the time she was seven weeks old and says times were tough during her childhood. “My grandmother was on a fixed income, and we had limited resources but found out about the Plus-1 program,” says Latasha.

When she heard that the lip sync competition was to support the Plus-1 program “she jumped at the chance to be involved in the competition.”  She chose to lip sync Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” because she felt the song resonated with the Plus-1 message of giving back.  Latasha says she “wants to give a face to the people who have been helped by the program and hopefully inspire more MLGW customers to support the program.”

Plus-1 is a partnership between MLGW and Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association (MIFA) to provide utility assistance for families in crisis. MLGW customers fund the program through one-time donations or by adding a dollar or more to their utility bill each month and MIFA screens customers for eligibility.  Since its inception in 1982, Plus-1 has provided millions of dollars in assistance to families in crisis in Memphis and Shelby County.