As we come to the close of another tax season, I wanted to thank each of you for all of your hard work this year.  I am so proud of you for all of your efforts and am honored to have worked with you.

This year we were able to meet with over 100 clients and prepare tax returns totaling over $159,000 in refunds.  This refund amount is up 9% from last year’s program and we saw a 20% increase in clients.  Truly incredible!

Each of you are to be commended for all of your efforts in helping those served by this program.  You treated each of our clients with respect and dignity and I heard nothing but glowing comments about your efforts.  Many people do not file tax returns because they are not aware of the many credits available or do not know how to fill out the forms.  The IRS recently announced that an estimated $1.1 billion in federal tax refunds will go unclaimed for 2007 if returns are not filed by April 18th. Much of this is from low income people who felt they did not have enough income to file, even though they had taxes withheld from their wages and were eligible for some tax credits.  However, programs like the tax assistance program at St. Francis help get these refunds to those in the greatest need.   The refunds generated by this program will help our clients in many ways, from paying for household expenses to perhaps saving for the future.  Our clients couldn’t do it without your hard work!

2010 continued to bring challenges for our community as unemployment has remained high but appears to be slowly turning around.  It may still be awhile before things truly are better but I feel positive about the future and have faith that we will come out of this stronger than ever.

As I look back over the 10 weeks that our program ran this year and think about the many people we served, a couple of people come to mind.  One gentleman came in on one of the last days of the program.  He had fully expected to owe federal and state taxes due to a penalty for cashing out his retirement account early.  After spending some extra time with him and having him obtain some additional information, we were able to lower the amount he owed on his Federal taxes to a minimal amount and he ended up getting a state refund.  He stopped by this past weekend to thank us once again for the help and even brought some fresh baked cookies.  He also told me that he hopes to make a donation to the church once he receives his refund.  It never ceases to amaze me that despite experiencing tough times, people are willing to give from their hearts, not their surpluses.

We also helped prepare 3 years worth of taxes for the elderly mother of one of our longtime clients.  This woman had been told by a paid tax preparer that she did not need to file any taxes because she did not owe anything at the federal level.  However she was unaware that she was eligible for the Michigan property tax credit and once we completed the 3 years of returns, she netted a refund of about $700.  These 2 stories, and many others like them, demonstrate  the need for quality tax preparation and are why this program continues to be so important in our community.  I am so thankful to have all of you working so hard for all of our clients.  Your time and commitment to the program, as well as your compassion for our clients, are why we were able to achieve the results that we did and continue to serve so many. 

This year we welcomed several new volunteers:  Crystal, Carolyn, Andrew and Alexandra.  I hope that you enjoyed volunteering this year as much as I enjoyed meeting and working with you!  I hope you will all consider volunteering in the program next year.

We also welcomed back several volunteers to the program:  Lisa, Ralph, Brad, Kathy, Lynn M., Greg, Lynn S., and Deisy.  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. Prabhu who support the program 100%.

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

Have a great year!!!
Julie M. Soyer

1. Alexandra _________
2. Ralph Almer
3. Lisa Evans
4. Raymond (Brad) Hatch
5. Crystal Heft
6. Andrew Jaworski
7. Katherine Koehler
8. Lynn Martin
9. Greg McConville
10. Carolyn Mullaly
11. Deisy Santos
12. Lynn Sohacki
13. Julie Soyer