Stephen King lends a hand to Maine residents

(CBS/AP) Just in time for winter, author Stephen King is stepping in to help struggling Maine residents buy heating oil.

The state is facing deep cuts to a federal heating oil assistance program.

The Maine native announced this week that his organization, The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, will team up with the three radio stations he owns in the Bangor area to raise $140,000 to buy heating oil for low-income residents.

King is asking listeners to donate $70,000, and the foundation will double it.

He tells the Bangor Daily News there is a "great need" for heating oil assistance as the price goes up and federal funding goes down.

"The cost goes up, the need goes up and the assistance goes down," he said. "That's the bottom line. That's what is happening."

The federal government told the Maine State Housing Authority that it should expect to receive $23 million in heating oil assistance this winter, down from $55.6 million last winter.

King just released a new novel, "11/22/63," about the events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

According to Variety, a big screen adaptation of King's 1995 fantasy novel "Rose Madder" is in the works.