VOICE OF THE TOWNSHIP
by Richard A. Stevenson, Sr., Wayne Township Trustee
This is my first column as the newly-elected Wayne Township Trustee. It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to write this column for our friends in the Waynedale area and to be able to keep you informed about our Office. Township government is the closest government to the people. I and my staff at the Wayne Township Trustee’s Office consider it an honor to be able to serve you. We believe our charge is to work toward the eradication of poverty and for the betterment of our community.
The first major event at the Wayne Township Trustee’s Office has been hosting, in conjunction with other agencies, a program to assist persons whose incomes are less than $38,000 a year in preparing their taxes. By mid-March, this program had generated a total of over $900,000 in tax refunds for persons whose taxes were prepared at our Office. This program, which is free, will continue through April 14. Hours for the tax program are noon to 3 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Spanish speaking tax preparers are available on Saturdays.
The Trustee’s Office will have our Easter Egg Hunt on the Saturday before Easter at 11 a.m. at Headwaters Park. This event is an Easter celebration for the children of Wayne Township, especially for those children who are in shelters, homeless or who otherwise might not have an opportunity to celebrate Easter. Besides the Easter Egg Hunt, the children can participate in face painting, receive prizes and get their pictures taken with the Easter Bunny.
Many of you are familiar with the role of the Wayne Township Trustee’s Office in providing emergency assistance to persons who need help paying for the basic necessities of life. These include shelter, utilities, medication, food and transportation. What you may not know is that Wayne Township offers other programs to help clients become self-sufficient. I plan to highlight some of those programs in more detail in future columns.
As a staff member, several years ago, of the Allen County Economic Opportunity Council (now known as CANI), I learned firsthand how devastating and overwhelming poverty can be. It crushes the life out of people and does damage to families, to children, to marriages, to our culture, and to our nation.
In Wayne Township, sixteen percent of our citizens fall below the national poverty level. Yet, poverty is not just a problem of money. Poverty involves many related concepts from healthcare to childcare to employment and self esteem.
Much of what we do with Township Assistance is little more than maintenance. We help people meet their basis needs, but our goals must be more profound. We need to find ways to encourage people to seek improvement and growth. Most importantly, we need to find ways to generate hope within the individual. It is through belief in ourselves, our Maker, and our community at large that real progress to eradicate poverty will be made.
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