VOICE OF THE TOWNSHIP

Indiana law requires townships to help residents in need with their basic necessities, such as assistance with housing, utilities and medicine. I am proud that at the Wayne Township Trustee’s Office, we focus on doing more for our clients than just meeting the legal requirements. We develop non-traditional ways we can assist all of our clients achieve a better life for themselves and for their families.

I am so fortunate to have a caring staff which regularly comes up with new ideas to meet our clients’ needs and is willing to support these ideas through their own work and donations. Recently, one of our employees, Patsy Brewer, decided we should start a clothing bank for our clients. Often clients don’t have appropriate clothing for job interviews, and Patsy thought clients would be more successful in their job searches if they had appropriate clothing. We already had a few items of donated summer clothing; so Patsy found an empty room in our building and started sorting and hanging the clothes to make them easier for clients to access.

She also sent a call to action email to staff asking for donations of nice summer clothing. Patsy was amazed at how quickly our staff responded. She got several bags and boxes of clothing not only from staff, but, from friends of staff members. She got clothing for adults and children, ranging from casual to professional attire. She got clothes in small and large sizes.

Now, the “Wayne Township Clothing Emporium” is open for clients to receive free clothing during the morning break for the weekly Employment Training Class and after the class adjourns. Patsy is there to enthusiastically assist clients find the right sizes. She hopes the “Emporium” becomes a permanent part of our office and becomes one more way we can help clients move from assistance to independence.

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Two other Wayne Township employees are taking the initiative to help clients with school supplies for their children. Sharon Conrad and Heidi Hannie put out another call to action email to employees for donations of school supplies. As always, our staff came through with donations of pencils, crayons, folders, markers, glue, pens, rulers and other items children will need for school.

Sharon and Heidi also will be using money from our employee “Dress Down Day” fund to buy school supplies to give to clients. This fund consists of donations employees make if they want to dress casually on certain scheduled days. The employees know that money in the “Dress Down Day” fund will be used to help others, such as recent donation we made from the fund to the Cancer Society Relay for Life.

Other non-traditional ways we help clients and others in need is by hosting the Community Harvest Farm Wagon and the Associated Churches Food Bank. The farm wagon comes to our office on Mondays at 9 a.m. and is open for anyone who needs food. The Food Bank is located in our office for the convenience of our clients and others needing help and is staffed by and follows the rules of Associated Churches.

We make available to our clients information about other agencies in our township that may be able to help them. For example, recently we had a representative from Fort Wayne Housing Authority here to speak with clients about the Housing Authority Self-Sufficiency Program. During the hot weather, we informed clients about the City’s cooling centers and about free bus rides that were being provided by Citilink.

I cannot say enough about the generosity of our staff here at the Wayne Township Trustee’s Office and all they do beyond their regular job duties to assist our clients and others in need.

Richard A. Stevenson, Sr.
Wayne Township Trustee