VOICE OF THE TOWNSHIP

My two younger grandchildren recently got out of school for the summer and have been visiting from out of town with my wife and me. I readily admit that I am an extremely proud grandfather, and enjoy their visits, especially with Father’s Day drawing near. Their father is my younger son, Rick Jr.
My oldest grandson really made me proud this year by graduating from Ball State University. What a thrill it was for me to be able to attend his graduation ceremony. His father is my older son, who is a lawyer in Indianapolis, and has two other sons in addition to the recent college graduate.
Many of you have experienced similar proud moments this spring when children, grandchildren, friends and relatives graduated from high school or college. I wish the best to all the graduating seniors and especially want to remember those in what may be the final graduating class from Elmhurst High School.
The graduations and visits with my grandchildren have made me think about the importance of education both for our clients and our staff. At the Wayne Township Trustee’s Office, we stress to our clients as part of our Employment Training Center the importance of getting their GEDs and the importance of further education or job training to make the clients more employable.
We also look for training opportunities for our staff to enhance their skills in helping our clients. Recently several of our staff, both investigators and support staff, attended a poverty simulation sponsored by Community Action of Northeast Indiana (CANI). Those who attended were so excited about what they learned that they spent much of our regular weekly staff meeting sharing their experiences with the rest of the staff.
The participants in the poverty simulation played the roles of low-income families. For example, our Community Liaison and Webmaster, SuzAnne Runge, played the role of a 36-year-old wife and mother. Her “husband” was employed at a low-paying job, and she was caring for her disabled father, as well as a 15-year-old child.
SuzAnne said one of the things she took away from the exercise was the importance of having reliable transportation. She had to go so many different places to pay bills, get basic necessities like food and just to keep her family going. She also was surprised at how long she spent waiting standing in line to get food and for appointments at Social Service agencies.
Our Human Resources Assistant, Roosevelt Johnson, said the experience really “humbled” him and helped him to see things from the clients’ point of view. He played a 34-year-old unemployed mother without a high school diploma, whose husband had left her and their two children.
Roosevelt related that his fictitious character decided to pawn “her” ring to get some extra money and got robbed at gunpoint when “she” left the pawn shop. What he took away from the exercise is the frustration poor people deal with on a daily basis. He said he felt like he always was having to jump through hoops to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.  
I have stressed to our staff since I became Trustee about the importance of always treating our clients with respect. The CANI training emphasized to staff the problems faced by poor people and why we must treat clients with respect. A smile and good wish by one of our staff members may be the brightest part of a client’s tough day.

Richard A. Stevenson, Sr.
Wayne Township Trustee