A heartfelt "Thank You" for the St. Francis Tax Assistance Program this year 2012.
I am truly honored to have worked with you and am very proud of your efforts.
I am always amazed by the outpouring of others and this year is no exception. Because of your efforts we were able to prepare federal and state tax returns for approximately 120 clients, with refunds totaling over $158,000. The number of clients we were able to serve is an increase of 15% over last year. Truly incredible! This increase in service at St. Francis helped to make up for the closure of 4 tax preparation sites in our area due to budget cuts at those locations. Many members of the community rely on this service and with your efforts we were able to continue to provide them the help they need.
Tax refunds act as a stimulus to the economy. The refunds our clients receive will be used to pay rent and other bills, purchase household items and fund education. Our clients rely on various tax credits, such as the Earned Income Credit, Education Credit, Property Tax Credit and Home Heating Credit to help with their expenses. These credits are only available to those who file taxes and meet certain criteria and many people are afraid to file taxes because they do not understand how to prepare the required forms. With your dedication to the tax assistance program, our clients are able to get the necessary help they need to get these tax refunds.
As I think back over the 10 weeks that we were open this year and think about the many people we served, a couple of stories come to mind. The first is of a gentleman who was referred to our program by a local low income housing facility he currently resides in, almost living off the grid. He had not filed taxes for a couple of years and was in need of our services. His income was very small. We completed his tax returns on his behalf and were able to help him obtain a refund. He was extremely grateful for our program and will hopefully return next year. His story, while fairly normal, is exactly the reason the program is in existence today and why your efforts are so greatly needed and valued by our community.
The second story that still has me amazed today is the shear outpouring of your volunteerism during the program. This year 19 of you volunteered your services to the St. Francis Tax program – the largest number by far to date! As a result we were able to increase our appointments on a weekly basis and thereby increase the number of clients we were able to serve by 15%. You are all to be commended for your efforts. This program cannot run without you.
This year we welcomed several new volunteers to our program: Gerald, Eugene, John, Colette, Elizabeth, Arthur, Craig and Dennis. I hope you enjoyed your time in the program as much as I enjoyed meeting and working with you. I also hope that you will consider volunteering again next year.
We also welcomed back several volunteers to the program: Lisa, Joe, Ralph, Brad, Kathy, Lynn M., Greg, Lynn S., Deisy, Crystal and Alexandra. I'm so glad that you were able to come back this year. Your previous experience made managing the program so much easier!
Of course it goes without saying that this program could not run without the support of the parish staff, especially Scott Wright who is the director of the Social Ministry and oversees my efforts, Jim Russo who makes sure that the computers are set up to run the tax software, the parish staff who give up their offices on Saturdays for us, the staff and volunteers who setup and confirm the appointments, the Saturday office volunteers who make sure that everyone gets signed in and fills out the questionnaires, and Fr. Jim and Fr. Bosco who support the program 100%.
Thank you once again for all of your work. Stay in touch and I hope to see you all soon!
We thank all of our 2012 Tax Volunteers: Gerald St. Germain, Eugene Napolitan, Colette Hamel, John Hamel, Elizabeth Maloney, Arthur Pinsak, Craig Snyder and Dennis Meade, Lisa Evans, Joe Kubis, Ralph Almer, Brad Hatch, Kathy Koehler, Lynn Martin, Greg McConville, Lynn Sohacki, Deisy Santos, Crystal Heft, and Alexandra Ydrovo & Julie M. Soyer, Tax Program Coordinator.
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