Q: When did you start volunteering with VITA? How did you come across the program?
A: “I started volunteering with VITA in 2020 after I retired at the end of 2019. I had been looking for volunteer activities that I could do after my retirement. So, I had looked for different things, and I happened to run across VITA as an option. I looked at what it did, how it helped and everything, and it sounded interesting to me. I decided to receive training at the end of 2019.”
Q: Do you have a background in accounting or taxes?
A: “I worked for IBM in sales, and I have a degree in engineering, but I like numbers.”
Q: Why do you volunteer with VITA?
A: “I think it’s just a meaningful way to help the community. Prices keep going up, and what used to cost $50 doing taxes are now charged $300-$400 now, even for a very simple tax. I think if there’s a free service like that, I think, you know, you should advertise it and have people use it.”
Q: What advice would you give to those looking to volunteer with VITA?
A: “To future volunteers I would say number one its very flexible. You can work one shift. You can work five shifts, or whatever it is you can do. It’s in the mornings and evenings and weekends, so there really is a lot of variety. You can work as much or as little as you want.”
“The other thing is that, since we always do reviews, you’re not on your own. Some people will say oh gee, I don’t want to do taxes, I’ll make mistakes. It’s okay, because there will be somebody who will equally reviewing it. There’s someone always backing you up.”
“Again, it’s your time, you can do as much as you want. I think its an easy way to help the community.”
Q: Any other words of advice or items to share?
A: “I know taxes sounds like a scary word. What we do is actually very simple because we don’t do any mega companies, we do very basic items (pension, social security, broker, etc). Its really simple and the software is very, very good. It does it all for you. There’s always someone doing backup, so there’s really kind of a foolproof way of helping community. I think it’s a meaningful way because you’re saving people dollars that they can use and especially this income bracket of food, medicine, rent, things like that. I think it’s great.”
