Responding To Community Needs: Voice Of The Township
In the spirit of the season of Thanksgiving get-togethers, the Wayne Township Trustee Office brought together present and past employees earlier this month for a reunion luncheon held at the township office on East Superior Street. Organized by our ARMM (Active Relations: Motivation and Morale) committee, close to fifty attendees enjoyed gathering together once again, sharing stories of the past and present and catching up on happenings in our personal lives and currently at the trustee’s office.
Many aspects of township business have remained the same over the years, but other things have changed. Most recently our WTTO Food Pantry expanded their hours and access to Wayne Township citizens in response to the recent disruption in SNAP (formerly Food Stamp) benefits.
Because our usual way of providing needed food assistance is by issuing vouchers through their caseworkers that clients can take to their local grocery store, our in-house Food Pantry has mainly been a backup emergency service that people only accessed once or twice a year. Often these are Wayne Township residents who may not be clients, such as those who are unhoused but are still in need of food for themselves and their families including many children.
When the United States federal government shut down and the November SNAP benefits were stopped, Trustee Austin Knox decided that we needed to open the pantry full time—in other words during all the hours that our office is open to the public, as opposed to our traditional Tuesday and Thursday morning weekly pantry hours. Several members of our staff are taking turns manning the pantry during these extended hours so that the ‘store’ is attended at all times, and visitors are welcome on a weekly basis until the current need for extra food assistance has been met.
Along with that extra assistance, Wayne Township will once again be handing out meat items at our Annual Ham and Turkey Giveaway in early December. The timing of this event is meant to provide a meal item between Thanksgiving and the Christmas for people feeling the need for a little help to make it through the holidays.
Shortly after the Ham and Turkey event, the Holiday Skating Party will be held at Bell’s Rink where children will receive food and prizes along with an afternoon of fun on roller skates.
All of these events are supported by donations from our community partners, as no tax dollars are used for these extra-curricular activities. This year, our donors have been particularly generous in response to the increased need they are seeing in the community.
You can find more details about these events on our website, waynetownship.org and Facebook page, facebook.com/WayneTownshipTrusteeOffice along with pictures and video of our reunion and other recent events. Join us in expressing gratitude for the giving spirit of our community, and happy Thanksgiving!
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