Friday, April 26, 2013

St. Francis Tax Assistance Program 2013

Thanks for the Tax Assistance Program at St. Francis Parish
(Written by Julie M. Soyer, Volunteer Coordinator of Tax Assistance Program at St. Francis Parish)

A heartfelt "Thank You" for your work in the St. Francis Tax Assistance Program this year. 

I am always amazed by those people who volunteer their spare time to help others.  Because of your efforts we were able to prepare federal and state tax returns for approximately 120 clients, with refunds totaling over $155,000, which is about the same number of clients we served in the program last year. 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.

This year also brought several challenges to tax filers – Significant changes to the State of Michigan tax laws and delays in federal tax filing due to budget talks.  Many of our clients were concerned about the impact of these changes on their tax returns and you all helped to alleviate those concerns.

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 story is of a new mother who found out about our program through the IRS.  Her infant daughter was at U of M Children's Hospital because of some major health concerns and this new mother was staying at Ronald McDonald house during this time.  She knew she needed to file taxes but also needed to be with her daughter at the hospital.  She was extremely grateful that she was able to find our program and have one less thing to worry about and that she was now able to concentrate on her daughter's care and recovery because we helped her with her tax returns.

The second story is one of a family that hadn't filed taxes for several years due to some fears that they had about an issue in their past.  They decided to set some goals and reach some milestones and one of these was to file their back tax returns.  They were unaware of some tax laws that were in place to help families like them and as a result of our program they were able to file their taxes and will hopefully be able to use the refunds to get back on track.  These are exactly the kind of people that programs like ours try to serve. 

This year we welcomed a couple of new volunteers to our program.  We also welcomed back several volunteers to the program.  Thanks to all:  Colette & John Hamel, Kathy Koehler, Elizabeth Maloney, Greg McConville, Kevin McKay, Eugene Napolitan, Arthur Pinsak, Sybilla Prest, Gerald St. Germain, Deisy Santos, Lynn Sohacki, Julie Soyer, Alexandra Ydrovo.

In late March we lost one of our former volunteers – Brad Hatch.  Brad volunteered in the program for 4 years and was very well liked by those people he helped.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to Brad's family.  He will be missed.

Thank you once again for all of your work.  Stay in touch and I hope to see you all soon!

Have a great year!!!

P.S.  I would also like to say "Thank You" to the person who was sent us a tray of Jimmy John's sandwiches on our last day.  That was very thoughtful and greatly appreciated by our volunteers and those working in the office that day.  What a wonderful gesture!

Julie M. Soyer, Volunteer Coordinator of Tax Assistance Program at St. Francis Parish

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