TAKING A GLANCE AT 2019 – Voice Of The Township

Well, it’s been a wonderful holiday season for me, and now I am looking forward to all the possibilities promised by a new year. As I begin my fourth term as your Wayne Township Trustee, I feel so fortunate to be able to continue with the important work we do here of helping people. Along with carrying out our statutory duties of providing township assistance to those in dire financial straits, we plan to continue with our many special programs that have brought good things to the citizens of Wayne Township, and we are planning some new projects and activities as we examine how to provide the best possible service for our clients and community over the next four years.

In upcoming columns I plan to re-acquaint readers with some of our long-running activities such as our Employment Department that has found jobs for so many of our clients, our Clothing Emporium where folks find outfits for school, job-hunting, and work uniforms, our Pantry that last year provided emergency food to over 400 households, our Workfare department that provides workers for local non-profits around the area, our Representative Payee department that helps recipients of Social Security manage their finances, our Recognizing Achievement Scholarships and Academic Encouragement Awards awarded to young students in the early summer, the annual Back-to-School Supply Store, our yearly involvement with the Christmas Bureau families, and our annual Holiday Celebration.

This year we will be starting a new project of providing space for the AARP Volunteer Tax Assistance Program on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout tax season. This will be a big help not only for our own clients but for anyone in the community needing free assistance with filling out their 2018 tax forms.

We will also soon be moving our website to a new platform to continue providing information about our services and a contact point for citizens to reach out to us. And when the weather warms up we will be finishing the landscaping around our new retaining wall just finished on the north side of our building.

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Last month I had the pleasure of participating in the inauguration of myself and of our board members, who were re-elected last November. Those members are: Bruce Stier, Patricia Turner and Anthony Henry. As of the re-organization meeting held here on January 8, Ms. Turner will be serving as Board President, Mr. Stier will be Board Secretary, and Mr. Henry will serve as Finance Chair for the coming year.

So as I say, we have lots of plans and projects, and I look forward to the opportunity to keep the readers of The Waynedale News informed about all of them and more as the year progresses. Happy 2019!