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There is Still $10 Million in Unclaimed EITC:
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Here We Come:
Volunteers Save the Day
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10/13 VITA Volunteer
Kickoff
12/1 VITA Training
Begins
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To Learn More About EITC Around Country Please CLICK HERE to visit the
National Community Tax Coalition Website
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The Annie E. Casey Foundation has come out with a report titled:
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Check out Volunteer Opportunities for You and Your Organization
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To
submit upcoming events, stories or ideas :
330 N. Commerce Park Loop, Suite 200
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COMING
SOON!!! In the Next EITC News:
-Update on Nets 2
Ladders
-An EITC funding
update
-And Much More....
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Hello Task Force
Members and VITA Volunteers!
The United Way
EITC Staff is pleased to present the fourth edition of our
electronic EITC Newsletter.
We hope this will be an effective tool to share news about
EITC, our partners and our volunteers.
A big thanks to those who read and shared information from the last
newsletter with others.
Please feel free
to suggest events, stories and news to be shared in future EITC
News. All you need to do is scroll down the newsletter until you
see contact information for ME!
Steven Meyeroff
VITA Volunteer Coordinator
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VITA Volunteer Kickoff
What: A chance for
everybody involved with the
EITC/VITA program to show their support by coming to a party and
bringing with them a potential NEW
VITA volunteer.
Who: All EITC Task
Force members, returning VITA volunteers, new VITA volunteers,
potential VITA volunteers and family.
When: Saturday,
October 13, 2007 from 11:00am until 2:00pm at the Quincie Douglas
Neighborhood Center located at 1575 E. 36th Street
(Kino/36th Street)
- Lunch and Dessert
provided
- Live Music Performed
by The Wayback Machine
- Guest speakers from the
City of Tucson and Congresswomen Gifford's office
- Fun for the whole
family (Swimming pool will be open from 12:00pm until
4:00pm)
RSVP
Deadline is Sunday October 7th.. Don't Miss Out!!!
Yes!
I would like to attend the VITA Volunteer Kickoff on October 13th.
No,
thank you. I regretfully decline.
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Chris McNamera to Join United Way's EITC
Staff
Hello Friends of
VITA,
My
name is Chris McNamara and I have been working at United Way for the
past year working on a number of exciting projects such as our Food
Stamp Outreach program and our online GIS collaborative.
Last
tax season I was also a VITA volunteer. I am very proud to have
been promoted to Program Manager of Family Financial Stability and look
forward to working with our talented team. Last year Margret
Aros, Steven Meyeroff, Heidi Stoltz and all of our wonderful volunteers
did amazing work providing tax preparation services to low- and
moderate-income families throughout our community. As the newest
member of the VITA team here at United Way of Tucson and Southern
Arizona I look forward to contributing to the ongoing success of the
VITA program.
Thank
you to all of those who volunteered last year. I know first hand
how rewarding it is when you are able to help taxpayers receive the
refund they deserve. I invite all of our volunteers to join us
again for this tax season. Also, if you know of a friend, family
member or colleague who may be interested, please invite them to join
us as well.
If
there is anything that I can do to help make your volunteer experience
as rewarding and exciting as it can be, please do not hesitate to
contact me. I look forward to working with you this season.
Thank you for all the hard work that you do for individuals and
families throughout Tucson and Pima County.
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Catholic Community Services Receives a Federal EITC
Grant
Catholic Community Services received a 3-year grant to
increase tax preparation sites in rural areas in Southern
Arizona. Poverty along the border is as high as 36% in some areas
and resources are slim. This grant will allow CCS to open several
new VITA sites in areas that currently have very limited access to free
tax preparation services. CCS hopes to provide the support
necessary to open 10 new sites within the next 3 years.
Asset Development will also be a key focus of this
grant. Financial education, on-site banking, and Individual
Development Account opportunities will be offered in most areas.
In order to accomplish this important work, CCS is partnering with
several agencies in Yuma, Nogales, and Cochise Counties; including
Nogales Community Development Corporation, AEA Federal Credit Union,
Arizona Western College, and Goodwill Industries, and, of course,
United Way.
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 Site Coordinators Needed for the Upcoming
VITA Season:
A Few Words About
What it Takes from Lorry Quihuis
What does a Site
Coordinator do-stay tuned! Why would you want to be a Site
Coordinator? I don't know! But, I can share with you my
thoughts, feelings and experiences, having been a coordinator some
eight years.
Personally,
being a coordinator has been a satisfying, rewarding experience for
me. Then again, I believe ALL citizens owe their community and
should do volunteer work - I have been a volunteer for some 35 years,
serving my community in a variety of capacities, including doing
volunteer tax work, off and on for all those years.
A site
coordinator runs a location (site) in the preparation of tax returns
for low income individuals, by insuring all the materials needed
to do so are available for volunteers who help you in
accomplishing the tax return preparation. United Way will
identify the location and will insure all your materials are
available.
Site Coordinator
Tasks Include
- Scheduling
the volunteer time.
- Refereeing
disputes regarding tax preparation
- Establishing
the order of tax clients
- Determining
tax law questions like why someone is not a dependent
- Determining
when you need to close so that the tax preparers will be home at a
decent hour.
The Site Coordinator is responsible for the smooth running
of a site. All of these problems can be solved with a little
common sense.
I do enjoy explaining the law to people and trying to
answer all their questions - when possible. I enjoy seeing their
smile when told the fee for our work is nothing. I also enjoy
telling people, Get out of here- we will NOT do your return because
making $175,000 is not, low income! Yes, I have seen income of
$250,000 plus come to us. Yes, I send them away!
I enjoy talking with people. I enjoy working with the
volunteers and watching them do a good job of tax preparation and
seeing their confidence level increase as time goes by. I know
because I also do "Quality Reviews"-I review the returns once
prepared, for correctness- Yes, I also make mistakes like all
individuals.
If you like being independent, like solving small
problems, either know tax law or have someone around who you can depend
on for tax answer, are dependable, then maybe you want to be a
Site Coordinator. Good Luck!
If you are interested in becoming a site coordinator or
would like more information please contact Margret Aros at maros@unitedwaytucson.com
or you can call her at 903-9000 X 223.
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 It's September; Time to
Get Back on the VITA Train
As your fearless VITA Volunteer coordinator, I want to
welcome you to the official opening of the EITC/VITA 2007 tax
season. The United Way EITC staff and the EITC Task Force have
been working diligently all summer to improve the experience of first,
and foremost, the VITA volunteer and secondly,
the taxpayers.
CLICK HERE to sign up and be apart
of another rewarding tax season
For those of you
who want to know what goes on behind the scenes, the VITA program is
part of the EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) Initiative of Tucson and
Southern Arizona and is managed by the EITC Task Force. This task
force is made up of volunteers from agencies, businesses, churches,
schools and governmental organizations from throughout our community
and is led by United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona.
To enhance the
VITA volunteers' experience we have worked really hard during the
off-season to improve VITA training. We have recruited some
great new instructors to implement a new curriculum that will
incorporate more computer time with the ever-loved tax law portion of
the training. Most of you will need to sign up for
VITA training in either December or January.
CLICK HERE for Training Dates/Times
With every new
year, there will be some changes.
CLICK HERE to see the description of
our new Asset Development Volunteer Position
New
for this year, we will be offering a special training on
TaxWise online in January before tax season begins. Stay tuned
for dates and times.
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Doris Rentschler, VITA Volunteer, is RACING TO SAVE LIVES!
Doris is competing to
raise money for Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin Lymphoma and Myelona blood
cancer research. Please support
Doris' participation in this worthy endeavor by donating to help fund
blood cancer research.
To donate online (secure website)
To
donate by mail: contact Doris at 791-4343 x227 for information.
Update from Doris
Greetings Team!
Training Update:
It's official now. All of the other non-athletes on
our training team have dropped from the program, and I am now the
slowest runner, cyclist and swimmer on the team! The triathlon is
October 28th in Tempe. I'll let you know how I faired.
Fundraising Update:
Thank you for the tremendous amount of support. I'm
pleased to announce that the $3500 goal has been exceeded.
Contributions total $3658 to date. I greatly appreciate all
of the support I've received.
Sincerely,
Doris Rentschler
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