Maine Township responds to the Covid-19 crisis

As Maine Township continues to deal with the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, CDC guidelines

are being followed and policies and procedures updated as necessary. While the physical town hall remains closed through at least April 30, most regular township services are still being offered to the public. Specifically, the food pantry and emergency general assistance are open and handling an incredible increase in requests.

"As of April 3, staff delivered over 400 food boxes to the public," said Supervisor Laura J. Morask.

Maine Township residents may pick up food box from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. General assistance is operating as it

has been since the beginning of the shelter in place orders.

As part of its response to the larger community, the Supervisor asked the Office of Emergency Management pull together any masks they had stored or could find and donated hundreds of masks to Lutheran General Hospital and North Maine Fire Department in several batches.

"We were so happy to be able to help our medical staff and first responders on the front lines" said Morask. "We very much appreciate our employees who have volunteered to staff the Food Pantry and the numerous local residents who have donated."

For information about these services and any other questions, call 847-297-2510 or visit http://www.mainetown.com.

MaineStay Youth & Family Services now offers telehealth services exclusively and continues to provide affordable counseling and psychiatric services via video or phone sessions.

All fees for counseling services have temporarily been waived due to the financial hardship COVID-19 is causing for so many families. MaineStay has also changed the delivery method of some of their programs such as mentoring and parenting classes into a virtual format.

All scheduled MaineStreamer trips for seniors have been postponed through the end of April.

However, MaineStreamer staff are working to create and implement virtual senior programs as well as create a local community COVID-19 Resource Guide to assist our residents in meeting their needs.

People seeking passports in the clerk's office or those who have questions for the assessor should call and leave a message which will be returned within a few hours.

Additionally, the clerk's office is able to process any FOIA requests, and the assessors office is working remotely to audit residents' exemptions ensuring they are applied correctly, while also updating their voluminous files.

Scheduled Board of Trustee meetings will be held via Zoom video conferencing and will be fully open to public participation. A department head meeting was held via Zoom to discuss how the township is handling its services to the residents. Finally, Maine Township residents are encouraged to practice preventative actions, including frequent hand washing, hand sanitizer use, covering coughs and sneezes, social distancing and staying home when possible.

Covid response-add 2

Caption #1

Maine Township staff members were on hand recently to help take donations and distribute

prepared boxes from the Food Pantry.

Caption #2

Dayna Berman, Administrator, and North Maine Fire Dept. District Chief Mike Bronk helped

distribute 300 masks from the Office of Emergency Management. The masks were donated to

Lutheran General Hospital and North Maine Fire Department.

Caption #3

Mike Samaan, Maintenance Director, left; Dr. Joe Ogarek, an emergency room doctor from

Lutheran General, center; and Vicki Rizzo, Deputy Administrator, right; help with the

distribution of masks which were donated to Lutheran General Hospital and North Maine Fire

Department.

Caption #4

A screen shot shows participants at a department head meeting held via Zoom to discuss how the

township is handling its services to the residents.