Thornton Township, Ill. (ECWd) –
Pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request, we received what Thornton Township says is an accounting of the BINGO free stuff and gas give-a-ways; all of it on the backs of the taxpayers of Thornton Township.
Between 2023 and Feb 2024, Thornton Township, under the direction of Tiffany Henyard, used taxpayer funds to “give away” the following:
- Men’s t-shirts and underwear
- More than $10,500.00 in gift cards
- Christmas event costing more than $10,000.00
- More than $40,000.00 given away at BINGO events
- Around 50 ROKU and Vizio TVs, ranging between 50-, 55-, and 65-inch versions
- $1,200.00 worth of luggage from Macy’s
- More than $47,000.00 in gas in private vehicles for Henyard’s well-advertised gas give-a-way
Nothing in the Township Code authorizes any of this frivolous, unauthorized gifting of taxpayer funds.
Where does this madness stop?
We know Henyard gave away stainless steel kitchen appliances (Refrigerator, stove, dishwasher) and other expensive items earlier this year during BINGO, with no end in sight.
This is why your taxes are so high in Thornton Township.
Receipts are below, or here:
BINGO Info - Thornton Twp2
2 Comments
Ted Hartke
Posted at 12:12h, 05 AugustThese “bingo” nights and “gas-give-a-way” events and “senior events” are great ways to skim off a few of the gift cards, TV’s, cookware, hair dryers, a few free tanks of gas, etc. The stores that charge $5 to $6 to process a gift card are also a rip-off. I don’t think taxpayers (or anyone else) should pay $6.95 to get a $25 gift card. This is money-laundering and a fleecing of taxpayer money.
Michael Hagberg
Posted at 12:10h, 06 AugustJust within the first 20 pages there are 4 pages that are duplicates. I wonder how many of the 233 are duplicates. Did the FOIA officer create duplicates just to give the impression that the FOIA request created a HUGE workload?