VOICE OF THE TOWNSHIP

We continue to be very busy at your Wayne Township Trustee’s Office. Our lobby is filled most mornings with clients needing our help. This is especially true on Mondays when the Community Harvest Farm Wagon comes to our office to bring food for our clients, who are having trouble providing food for their families.

Our staff has been trained on our updated Wayne Township Eligibility Standards, which went into effect on May 1. We revisit our Eligibility Standards every year to make sure we are providing the best service we can for our clients, while staying within our budget.

Our updated Standards can be viewed at www.waynetownship.org. Just click on “Township Assistance” at the top of our homepage. Then find the link at the bottom of the “Township Assistance” page that says “Eligibility Standards.”

In addition to updating our Eligibility Standards, we have begun planning for several upcoming events. Like many of your neighborhood associations, the Wayne Township Trustee’s Office will be participating in the City’s Great American Cleanup on Saturday, May 15. This is the third year we have participated in the cleanup effort.

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Our team will include volunteers both from our staff and our clients. We will be partnering with several other organizations to clean up a section of Southeast Fort Wayne. Last year, we had great cooperation from our staff and our clients, who worked very hard in the cleanup effort. We are looking forward to making a difference for our community by participating in the Great American Cleanup again this year.

Wayne Township’s Bike to Work Day is the following week on Friday, May 21. This is the same date of the National and City of Fort Wayne’s Bike to Work Day. I have ridden my bicycle to work for the past two years on Bike to Work Day and plan to ride again this year.

As in the past two years, several of my staff will be joining me to ride to our office. For the first time this year, we also plan to invite Wayne Township clients to ride with us.

Bike to Work Day is important for me because it reminds me and my staff that many of our clients do not have vehicles and must use their bikes for transportation. If the weather is bad, I can choose whether to ride my bike or take my car. Clients without vehicles or money to ride the bus must ride their bikes or walk in all weather conditions, including winter.

Not only is it unpleasant to ride your bicycle in bad weather, it can be dangerous to ride on Fort Wayne’s streets. I have been especially concerned about the lack of safe bike routes from Southeast Fort Wayne into Downtown. But this is changing quickly.

Fort Wayne has completed its Bike Fort Wayne Plan, which will be presented to the City Plan Commission at a Public Hearing on May 10 at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Bike Fort Wayne is geared toward making our city a better place for bike commuting. The City’s annual Bike Summit is scheduled for May 8 beginning at 9 a.m. at the Downtown Library. The Summit is open to everyone, and my office will be represented.

Mothers’ Day is special for my family and for many of yours too. I wish a very happy Mothers’ Day to all mothers and families in the Waynedale area.

Richard A. Stevenson, Sr.

Wayne Township Trustee