On the eve of April 15th, I thought that I would share with you the results of our 2009 Tax  Assistance Program at St. Francis of Assisi.

This year we prepared approximately 73 sets of tax returns resulting in close to $103,000 in net refunds to our clients.  As you all know, tax refunds act as a stimulus to the economy because many times people use their refunds to purchase items that they would normally not purchase otherwise.  This year due to the poor economy, many of our clients are now living on reduced incomes as a result of pay decreases or loss of employment so these refunds are even more important as they will provide additional cash flow for household expenses.  Whatever the use our clients will put these refunds to, the result will surely help them and perhaps provide a small boost to the economy in the greater Ann Arbor area.

I cannot thank you all enough for all of your efforts and time spent this year.  Without the major commitment of your time, this program would not be possible.  Many of our clients cannot afford quality tax preparation and possibly would not file a tax return in order to take advantage of the various credits offered to low income tax payers.  You are all to be commended for your efforts and should be proud of your work in this program.  The net refund this year is nearly double what we achieved last year.

I would also like to thank you all for the care and kindness you showed to every client who came into our offices.  Sometimes it’s difficult to listen to all of the hardship cases that come with a poor economy and low incomes but each of you are amazing individuals and our clients are very appreciative of your help and support.  Sometimes our clients just like to talk to someone who is willing to listen and you provided that extra comfort to them during this stressful time.

This year was very challenging to our program because we decided to expand the program due to an increased amount of volunteers, but you all made it so much easier to manage.  As a result of your time commitment, we were able to expand our program to 15 appointments each week.  Because of this, we were able to see more clients this year, many earlier in the season, which hopefully resulted in our clients receiving their refunds earlier than in prior years.

As I look back over the 9 weeks that we ran the program and think about the many people that we helped, one in particular comes to mind.  This year we had a gentlemen who had held a decent job in Indiana but lost it as the economy started to falter and he relocated to Michigan to find employment.  He told me that he had worked for a while but lost that job again due to the poor economy.  He then lived under a bridge for a time before moving into a homeless shelter.  He had no personal transportation and was forced to walk everywhere he needed to go or rely on the kindness of others for rides.  He did not receive a very large tax refund, maybe a few hundred dollars, but donated $5.00 to the church and pledged to come back and donate $100.00 more once he received his refund.  We’ll never know if he does this, but it’s amazing that someone who has little or nothing would want to give so much.  The church received several other donations from our clients, who all gave from their hearts, not their surpluses.  This gentlemen and the many others like him are the reason why this program is so important.

I would like to thank all of you who joined our program for the first time this year.  I hope that you enjoyed your experience and will consider coming back again next year.  Brad, Diana, Kathy, Lisa, Ralph, Virginia, Deisy and Bob – it was a pleasure to meet you all and work with you this year!

Of course, I also would like to send a special thanks to those of you who came back again this year.  You were familiar with the program and had met several of the clients in the past and as a result, the program was able to run smoothly due to your experience.  Greg M., Greg R., Lynn, Patricia and Sylvia – thank you for coming back!

Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank Scott Wright for his continued support of the program and making sure that we had what we needed to manage the program, Jim Russo for installing the software and checking up on us in the early weeks to make sure the computers were running well, and to Father Jim and Father John for all of their help and support during the 9 weeks.  A special thanks also goes out to Marty, Barb, Nunu, Pam, Gail, Colleen, and the weekday evening and Saturday office volunteers for letting us use their offices, and take and confirm the appointments.

I hope to see you all soon.  Have a wonderful year and thank you again for your work in this program.  I hope that you all found it to be very rewarding. 
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And, we all give thanks for our coordinator:  Julie Soyer.
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Thanks for the St. Francis Tax Assistance Program 2008!

It is such an incredible honor to work with, and to serve such an important need in our community. This year we saw many different types of people come through our site seeking assistance. We saw young newlyweds, retirees, students, single people and new parents. We saw people who continue to do well in their chosen path of life (for example - Joe our young musician whose got a great new CD out and is now doing so well that we had to counsel him out of our program!) while others struggle as a result of the economy. We also met people who have been undergoing some tremendous challenges due to physical and emotional disabilities. Every one of these people was met with kindness and compassion. Our clients are very appreciative of your work.

During the 10 weeks of the program, we saw over 60 clients and helped return well over $50,000 (net) in tax refunds to our community. In addition, as a result of your efforts, many of these people will also receive tax stimulus payments from the federal government because we assisted them in filing their tax returns this year. This could add upwards of $10,000 in additional refunds to our community. These do not seem like large amounts but many of our clients are low-income or have fixed incomes and many times the tax refunds, which include the earned income credit and property tax credit, can be more than 10% of their annual household income. Both the tax refunds and stimulus payments will hopefully have a ripple
effect through the community, therefore making our program important to all who are served by it.

Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to this years Tax Assistance Program at St. Francis of Assisi: Michelle Eiden, Sylvia Garcia-Al-Rawas, Deborah Kloska, Gregory McConville, Greg Ruselowski, Jim Russo, Lynn
Sohacki, & Julie M. Soyer, Volunteer VITA coordinator for St. Francis Parish.

Tax Program 2007 another tremendous success!

The Tax Assistance Program at St. Francis of Assisi saw approximately 80 clients this year.  We estimate that we helped return over $40,000 to the greater Ann Arbor area. 

Comments from clients included: “Now I can fix my car.” “Now I can pay for tuition.”  “You are doing such a wonderful service.”   Several clients also made donations to our parish, which touched our hearts since these people were giving from their minimal income, not their wealth.

Tax refunds have a ripple effect throughout the economy especially in these economically challenging times.  So our service in this program makes a great impact and is very important to our community.    A tax refund for someone who is living on social security or minimum wage is a big part of his or her annual household income.   Many of our clients cannot afford to go to a company, which charges a fee to prepare taxes.  Volunteers from our parish help prepare the various Federal and State tax returns and associated schedules.

Thanks to all the volunteer Tax preparers:   Sylvia Al-Rawas, Tim Kuzma, Joseph McCadden, Kevin McGrath, Dick Miller, Mary Murray, Asmat Noori, Greg Ruselowski, and especially thanks to our volunteer Tax VITA program coordinator: Julie Soyer.

Tax Assistance Program 2006 a tremendous success 
thanks to all who helped: Julie Soyer, Asmat Noori, Joseph McCadden, Chris Simmons, John Zakerski, Mary Murray, Dick Miller.
All of our clients appreciate your efforts and the time that you spent with them.
You all make a difference! 
From the statistics that we kept, we saw approximately 54 clients this year and prepared tax returns that netted in excess of $30,000 of refunds to the greater Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti areas!  I’m sure that this number is a lot higher based on the statistics that were not recorded.  This doesn’t always sound like a lot of money, but many of our clients are senior citizens on fixed incomes so every $1 is important.   We’ll see you again next year. 

Tax Assistance Program 2004 – The Tax Assistance Program at St. Francis of Assisi offers assistance with the preparation of tax returns to the residents of the area.  Volunteers from the parish help prepare the various Federal and State returns and associated schedules and are responsible for returning thousands of dollars to the Ann Arbor area and surrounding communities each year.  The program is held on Saturdays from early February to Mid-April.  In 2004, our volunteers served approximately 78 people in the greater Ann Arbor area.