New Bill Pay Kiosk Locations Offer a Convenient Way for EWSU Customers to Pay

 Evansville Water and Sewer Utility is pleased to announce new payment options for customers to pay in person near Haynie’s Corner Arts District and on the city’s south side. New EWSU PaySite® bill payment kiosks are available inside The Potter’s Wheel at 333 E. Jefferson Avenue and at Mike’s Food Mart at 407 E. Riverside Drive.

The bill payment kiosks are located near the homes and workplace of many EWSU customers who had frequently paid their bills in person at the Civic Center. That option ended when the EWSU Customer Service window at the Civic Center closed earlier this year due to the coronavirus. The bill payment kiosk located near the main entrance at the Civic Center is still available. EWSU payments can be made at all three kiosks locations with cash, check, or credit card. The payment process is fast, easy, convenient, and secure.

EWSU also offers the convenience of automated payments through the MyWater smartphone app available through the Apple Store and Goggle Play, and online at https://mywater.ewsu.com/portal. Payments may also be made by calling EWSU Customer Service at 812-436-7846, or at any Old National Bank location.

Commentary: Some Things Change, Some Don’t

By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Four years ago, my son and I took a trip we still talk about.

We drove to Cleveland, Ohio, to see our beloved Cleveland Indians play the Chicago Cubs in the first game of the 2016 World Series.

We sprinted from Indianapolis as soon as my son got out of school, pushing through without stops to get to the game. It was a chilly night, and our seats were up in the stratosphere. Even dressed in several layers, we had to hunch down to stay warm.

We had planned to stop at a hotel in Columbus after the game to catch a couple of hours of sleep before driving back to Indy and another school day for my son, along with another workday for me. But there were no rooms to be had.

So, we drove through the night, arriving back at our house a little after 5 a.m. We spooked the dog and awakened my wife and daughter – both of whom thought we were more than a little crazy – from sound slumbers when we came in.

My son and I slept for about an hour each, then limped our ways through the rest of the day.

It was worth it.

The reason it was worth it is that my son and I were and are devoted Cleveland Indians fans.

Critics have pointed out through the years that the team name – Indians—was offensive to many people. They also have noted that the longtime team logo – Chief Wahoo – was racist.

Both points are valid.

But I wasn’t a fan of the name or of the logo. I was a fan of the team.

The source of my devotion isn’t that hard to determine.

I was born in Cleveland. The first professional baseball games I ever saw were Indians games my father took me to when I was barely old enough to walk. Even though I understood only a little of what was going on out on the field, I loved the experience of going to the ballpark with my dad.

I learned then the clichés that also are eternal truths.

Hot dogs always taste better at a baseball game.

And, of course, a bad day at the ballpark beats a good day at the office every time.

Several decades later, when I became a father, the first major-league games I ever took my daughter and my son to were Indians games. My daughter’s interest in baseball waned fast, but my son became obsessed with the game.

At least once, often two or three times, he and I would travel to Cleveland for a weekend to catch two, three or even four games.

One memorable time, my father came with us. Between games, we drove over to the lower working-class neighborhood where my parents lived when I was a child. In the grassy stretch behind the duplex that had been our home in the early 1960s, my dad, my son,   and I played a game, just as Dad and I had when I was small.

I tried to explain to my son once that being a Tribe fan could be a painful experience. I told him that I had lived more than a half-century and that the Indians hadn’t won the World Series once in my lifetime.

But that may be the point.

I don’t root for the Cleveland Indians because I expect them to win every game or every year. I root for them for the same reason I root for Cleveland and other struggling rustbelt cities – because I believe in underdogs, in the value of the little guy, in the hope that good, hardworking people always will find ways to endure and build good lives.

More than that, I’m an Indians fan because I think of their games as experiences I had with my father and their ballpark as the place where I once watched my 80-year-old father gleefully chase his grandson around the bases when the Tribe opened the field after a game.

The Indians are set to change their name. The team acknowledged that the name is offensive and therefore should be changed.

It’s a good decision.

While the name may change, other things won’t.

I’ll still be a guy who was born in Cleveland.

And my son and I still will be fans.

FOOTNOTE; John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College students.

THE CITY-COUNTY OBSERVER POSTED THIS ARTICLE WITHOUT OPINION, BIAS, OR EDITING.

SNAP Recipients In Indiana May Now Purchase Online At ALDI Stores, Through Partnership With Instacart Online Grocery Platform

INDIANAPOLIS –SNAP recipients in Indiana now have a third option for using their Hoosier Works EBT cards to purchase groceries online for pickup or delivery: ALDI, working in partnership with Instacart, joins Amazon and Walmart, which were approved for online purchases earlier this year. SNAP participants are automatically eligible to participate in this program and do not need to apply.

“We are pleased to add another retailer to provide Hoosier SNAP recipients with this important service – particularly those who are most at risk for COVID-19 infection and those who are homebound,” said Jennifer Sullivan, M.D., M.P.H., FSSA secretary. “We are thankful to our federal partners at the Food and Nutrition Service for working with us to continue to remove barriers and provide safety and convenience for Hoosier families. While this service will initially and immediately address needs caused by the pandemic, we intend to keep this service in place permanently.”

Currently, ALDI via Instacart, Amazon and Walmart are the only Indiana retailers that have been approved for online purchasing by the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. More information about using these online retailers in Indiana is available here.

• To purchase online from ALDI, Indiana SNAP participants will shop via the Instacart app or online at www.Instacart.com.  (Users can get more information here.)
• Customers can create an Instacart account here. Then, they can enter their Hoosier Works EBT card information as a form of payment in their profile. (They will also need to add a secondary form of payment for non-food items such as taxes, tips and fees per SNAP guidelines.)
• Customers can then enter their ZIP code to determine if they are near a participating ALDI store, and begin shopping and selecting items from ALDI’s SNAP-eligible products. Once items are added to their cart, customers will be able to select how much of their benefits they would like to allocate to the order.
• ALDI delivery and pickup via Instacart will be available daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., local time. Available time slots for pickup and delivery are listed during checkout and vary by store. Orders for delivery and pickup can be placed by customers for receipt in as fast as an hour or scheduled days in advance.

It is important to note that any delivery fees that may apply to the online purchase may NOT be paid with SNAP benefits. However, through March 16, 2021, Instacart will waive delivery and/or pickup fees on the first three SNAP EBT orders for each Indiana SNAP customer with a Hoosier Works EBT card associated with their account.

If SNAP recipients have any problems using their card for ordering, they should call the number on the back of their Hoosier Works EBT card for customer service.

SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and was formerly called Food Stamps. SNAP benefits can only be used for food products and for plants and seeds used to grow food. A full list of items that can and cannot be purchased with SNAP is available here: https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligible-food-items

TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) benefits, which are also provided via Hoosier Works EBT card, may not be used for online purchasing. Currently, more than 680,000 Hoosiers receive SNAP benefits and nearly 13,000 Hoosiers receive TANF assistance.

Hoosiers may apply for SNAP or TANF at www.FSSABenefits.in.gov. They may also call 800-403-0864 for assistance.