Genevieve Eller, a senior at Samford University in Birmingham, grew up in a military family and interacted with people from many different backgrounds and socioeconomic levels as a child.
But as a volunteer with SaveFirst, an initiative of Impact Alabama, her eyes have been opened to the struggles faced by the working poor in communities all around Alabama.
“It continually surprises me,” she said of her work with Impact Alabama, a nonprofit organization that seeks to partner with universities and colleges throughout the state to involve students in service opportunities in their communities.
Eller said she has learned that circumstances, not just bad decisions or laziness, often lead to poverty. She also knows that every dollar is important to these individuals and families. So as tax season kicks into high gear, Eller and hundreds of volunteers like her are lending their time to help lower-income families keep more of their hard-earned money.
Last year, more than 1,400 Alabama families received free tax preparation assistance at community-based sites in seven cities statewide through SaveFirst, claiming more than $2.4 million in refunds and saving $290,000 in tax preparation fees, according to Impact Alabama data.
This year, more than 375 students from 16 colleges, including Samford and Judson College in Marion, have undergone training with SaveFirst and are preparing taxes at 13 sites throughout the state.
Alicia Grice, a senior at Judson, is a SaveFirst volunteer and has helped prepare tax returns this year in Marion. She said it only makes sense to help with a project that combines her interest in accounting with her desire to be involved in the local community.
“Not only am I able to help others but I’m allowed to learn skills which may prove useful in the future,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for all of us who are participating.”
Grice believes the assistance SaveFirst provides is invaluable to those it helps. She remembers an elderly man she worked with whose annual income was $5,000. Though his refund was small, he saved $110 in tax preparation fees — almost half his refund.
“When you live on a small amount of money, any little bit you save helps,” Grice said. “It was the first time I realized, ‘Wow, we can really help these people.’”
Working with the poorer residents of Alabama is one of the most significant experiences volunteers for Impact Alabama receive, said Sarah Louise Smith, administrative director of Impact Alabama and SaveFirst coordinator. She said volunteers get a “dramatically” new perspective by interacting with people who are struggling to raise a family on very little money.
“The students see a change in their attitude about people in poverty when they meet someone working three different jobs and making $18,000 a year,” Smith said.
SaveFirst especially targets those workers who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a refundable federal income tax credit passed by Congress in 1975 for low- to moderate-income working individuals and families.
According to Stephen Black, founder of Impact Alabama, more than 492,000 families and individuals in Alabama claim an estimated $1 billion through the federal EITC each year. More than 75 percent of those pay someone to complete their tax returns, and many take out expensive loans on their anticipated refunds.
“Commercial tax preparers offering refund anticipation loans to individuals qualifying for the Earned Income Tax Credit can charge an amount exceeding an effective annual rate of 700 percent through exorbitant fees and interest rates,” Black said.
As a result, Black estimates that Alabama families lose more than $78 million annually.
“That extra $78 million could have made a tremendous contribution to helping lower-income families secure health insurance, pay down debts or put food on the table,” he said.
In addition to helping families with financial planning issues, Impact Alabama also seeks to help Alabama’s youngest residents by catching vision problems early in their lives.
Through the FocusFirst initiative, more than 950 college students statewide have learned to conduct vision screenings for young children. Children who need follow-up care are then helped through a partnership with Sight Savers of Alabama.
So far, more than 34,000 children have been screened throughout Alabama. Approximately 12 percent of those screened had previously undetected problems and received referrals. Black believes that identifying and correcting vision problems early will help these students be more successful when they start school.
“Vision problems in preschoolers lead to a substandard education, behavior risks and low self-esteem,” he said.
“FocusFirst provides a cost-effective, direct response to the vision problems of children who live in urban and rural poverty in Alabama.”
And in uncertain economic times, every little bit helps, Grice said.
“We’re helping people in a real way,” she said. “I’m so grateful God has blessed me with the skills, the ability and the will to serve these people who are so desperately in need.”
Appointments for SaveFirst can be scheduled for all locations by calling 1-888-99-TAX-AL.
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