As our volunteer coordinator of this program since 2004 (for seven years and a volunteer participant for even more than seven years), Julie Soyer is so delightful to work with and for.   Julie writes the following letter, which demonstrates her hope and gratitude.   Julie, we thank you very much!
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One of my favorite concepts is that of synergy – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  I can think of no better example of this than the tax assistance program at St. Francis of Assisi.  Each of you are incredible individuals but together you are an amazing team!

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 in this annual effort.

This year we were able to meet with over 80 clients and prepare tax returns totaling over $147,000 in refunds.  This refund amount is up over 40% from last year’s program.  Just amazing!

Each of you are to be commended for all of your efforts in helping those served by this program.  These refunds will help our clients in many ways, from paying for current household expenses to perhaps saving for the future.  Whatever our clients do with these refunds, they couldn’t do it without your hard work!

2009 was another challenging year for our community as unemployment has remained high.  However I see bright spots which give me hope that we will start to see a turnaround in the economy.  Help wanted signs are starting to go up, retail sales are on the rise and many of our clients this year are trying to start their own businesses.  It’s often said that necessity is the mother of invention so it’s good to see that many in our community are putting their skills to use in creative ways in order to make a living in a down economy.

As I look back over the 9 weeks that our program ran and think about the many people we served, one young woman comes to mind.  She came for her appointment on the last day of the program and fully expected to owe federal and state taxes due to low tax withholdings.  After her taxes were prepared and she saw that she was getting a refund, she began to cry in disbelief.  She was so happy!  She was not aware of some of the credits that she was eligible for and was so happy that we were able to help her take advantage of them.  This is why this program continues to be so important in our community and why I am so thankful to have all of you working so hard for all of our clients.  Your time and commitment is why we were able to achieve the results that we did and continue to serve so many. 

This year we welcomed seven (7) new volunteers:  Joe Kubis, Lynn Martin, Magda Munteanu, Megan Zhang, Andrew Szydlowski, Michelle Yurcak, and Sandra Kortesoja.   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 nine (9) of our past volunteers:  Ralph Almer, Lisa Evans, Sylvia Al-Rawas, Brad Hatch, Kathy Koehler, Greg McConville, Lynn Sohacki, Deisy Santos [and Julie Soyer].   I’m so glad that you were able to come back this year.  You made managing the program so much easier!

Of course it goes withhout saying that this program could not run withhout the support of the parish staff, especially Scott Wright who is the director of the Social Minisitry and oversees my efforts, Jim Russo who makes sure that we have the computers to run the tax software, the administrative 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 questionaires, and Fr. Jim and Fr. John 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