Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Jesse Ayers, the 19-month-old son of Traci Webb, sits on a couch next to an air conditioner to be installed in their home. High temperatures can often exacerbate health conditions for vulnerable people such as the elderly, young and disabled.

Traci Webb plays with her son next to a fan is her living room. She applied for a Cooling Assistance grant to get an air conditioner.

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Being pregnant in the heat of summer is no fun. Just ask Traci Webb.

The single, disabled and six-month pregnant mother felt miserable inside her non-air-conditioned Roanoke home as temperatures soared into the high 90s at the start of June. She said the heat worsened her high-risk pregnancy and severe asthma, especially because she had to use her nebulizer up to six times a day.

Her son Jesse, who has bad asthma, also suffered in the heat. The 19-month-old began wheezing and coughing and throwing up his milk. Neither one could sleep through the night.

"It made it hard to breathe," Webb said. "It made it really, really miserable for everybody."

Webb recently applied for a Cooling Assistance grant to get an air conditioner. She applied for the grant June 16 and had an air conditioner installed five days later.

The grant is part of the Virginia Department of Social Services Energy Assistance Program and is administered locally through the Roanoke branch of the agency.

The grant, targeted at low-income households, is based on the premise that staying cool is necessary for proper health, safety and quality of life, especially as the heat and humidity intensify. That is especially true for vulnerable people such as children under 6, disabled individuals and adults 60 or older.

The $7 million program can help in a variety of ways including paying up to $150 for an electric bill, repairing a central air-conditioning system or purchasing and installing an air conditioner.

The grant helped approximately 44,000 Virginia households last year, according to data from the Department of Social Services.

Andrea Gregg started to worry when the high temperatures hit at the start of June.

As manager of the Energy Assistance Program in Richmond, she believes the need will only increase this year.

Gregg said that funding is fairly stable but requests for assistance have increased as purchasing power has decreased and energy costs have risen.

"Everything's really tight right now," Gregg said.

The application process started June 16 and during the first week there were more than 500 applications in Roanoke, according to Bruce Stultz, Roanoke's Department of Social Services chief of benefit programs and employment services.

By comparison, there were 1,637 applications in Roanoke during the two-month period last year. During that time, roughly half of the applications -- 816 -- were approved, Stultz said.

"A lot of people who applied need help with their electricity bill," Stultz said.

One such person is Tawonda Stevens, a Roanoke mother with two sons who both have asthma.

Last month, her electricity bill exceeded $100. She recently received help for her bill and knows that she would still be behind if she hadn't. She credits the grant with keeping her and her sons cool and financially afloat.