Reflecting On A Year of Service: Voice Of The Township
At the start of this new year, we here at the Wayne Township Trustee Office look back at what we have accomplished over the last year and ahead to the progress we hope to continue in 2026.
In 2025, along with our daily work with township assistance to clients, we replayed several traditional events that we have been doing over the past several years including awarding the Academic Encouragement Awards at our Family Fun Day in July, giving out a record 350 hams and turkeys to families for their holiday meals this winter, delivering Christmas Bureau gifts to over forty of our client families, and hosting our annual Holiday Skating Party for hundreds of children and their families in December. Along with these activities we held three events that were new for 2025: a spring celebration we called Hoppy Memories where children and their families received candy and other treats and posed with the Bunny for pictures; a fall Halloween event called Harvesting Memories, providing kids with a fun and safe Trick or Treating experience and photo opportunities in their costumes; and, in partnership with Blue Jacket, a chance for free rides through Blue Jacket’s Fantasy of Lights in Franke Park in late December.
All these activities were completely free for the participants and were not paid for with taxpayer dollars, thanks to the generosity of our donors and community partners. We have also been grateful for the creative energy of our staff members who came up with the ideas and the elbow grease to make all of these events happen. Sometimes people ask how these activities relate to our mission as a township trustee office. The answer comes from a long tradition of township trustees giving to the community, not only in answering the need for the basic necessities to help those residents who are having trouble making ends meet, but in keeping up the spirits of the people and their families and children. In this way the financial assistance we provide goes even farther as people are cheered along in their efforts to keep trying, keep improving, keep the faith that their efforts are worth making.
At this time of the year our extra-curricular activities slow down as we attend to our annual tasks of updating our Eligibility Standards which define our rules for granting township assistance. It is in this document that we set out our income guidelines, based on the Federal Poverty Level, that determine who is eligible to receive township assistance. We also define the amounts we help people with related to their utilities, shelter payments, food, and other basic necessities. We also draw up our township assistance reports that we submit to the state showing how we managed our money over the previous year. All these reports are available to anyone by request at our office in person or on our website.
Throughout the year we also take our show on the road, so to speak, as we carry our booth with pictures and literature explaining the work our township does at various events like the Labor Day Picnic in July, the Summit City Community Festival in August, and several other community venues across the township and the city of Fort Wayne.
In 2025 we began posting our monthly Wayne Township Trustee Board meetings on our website and on our YouTube channel. These meetings keep our board and the public up-to-date on how the township is running, with financial reports on the number and amounts of requests for assistance made and granted and with news of other township activities and events.
Last year was a productive one for the Wayne Township Trustee Office, and we look for 2026 to be even more fruitful. We look forward to keeping you informed of our progress on our website, our Facebook page, and our column in the Waynedale News. Keep in touch with us and Happy New Year!
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