INDIANAPOLIS — Utilities, food and housing are basic necessities each person needs to survive.
Pike Township and the trustee’s office have seen demand more than double. At the request of the township trustee, the Pike Township board allocated more than $200,000 in additional funding for financial assistance.
"Some years we have done that, but we have not done that in the past three to four years,” Annette Johnson, the Pike Township Trustee, said.
The move comes during the government shutdown, which one of the caseworkers said is affecting Pike Township residents.
"They have been pretty much saying they don't know when they are going to be able to go back to work and that they need assistance with rent, utilities, sometimes even food. You know people are living paycheck to paycheck,” Tynisa Davis, the Lead case worker at the Pike Township Trustees Office, said.
The trustee’s office also operates a food pantry on site. Trustee Annette Johnson started it to help people seeking assistance; it has since become a pantry available to anyone in Pike Township in need.
"When I put the food pantry together, I wasn't thinking it was going to be a pantry that would really be needed for other individuals that needed to come here as well,” Johnson said.
Caseworkers say unemployment is the main reason people seek assistance — an issue they say is worse this year than last.
"We will typically have seven interviews or seven intakes a day where whereas last year it was probably maybe three,” Davis said.
The township vows to continue helping as long as it can.
"We will do as much as we can as long as we can,” Johnson said.
The trustee said the largest increase has been in requests for utility assistance. Johnson said most programs for utility help don’t kick in until the first of the year. Before assistance is granted, the office conducts a thorough investigation, including reviews of bank accounts, employment history and overall income.
For more information about financial assistance, call the Pike Township trustee’s office at 317-291-5801 or visit their website.
