Santa Maria Urban Ministry
(SMUM) hosts a variety of community support programs in San Jose’s
inner city, including food distribution, a preschool, Studio 17 (the
homework and computer club at which I volunteer on Thursday afternoons),
and clothing distribution. The small building is thoroughly used!
Last night, Lewis headed up the
VITA volunteer team at
SMUM, helping to prepare and electronically file income tax returns
on America’s Tax Day.
In VITA’s own words:
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“Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) volunteers provide FREE Income Tax Preparation Assistance to low-Income, elderly, disabled and limited English speaking people. Volunteers get FREE classroom training during the Saturdays in January at the San Jose
IRS Office in Santa Clara County, and certification by the IRS after satisfactorily completing an open book exam.”
John was at SMUM last night taking pictures for their newsletter.
He guessed there were 150 people speaking many languages in the very full
computer lab, waiting area, and parking lot. Only a few people arrived
too late for the electronic filing deadline (9 pm California time =
Midnight East Coast time).
VITA at SMUM
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Studio 17 at SMUM
Here is the same SMUM computer lab being used by the kids of Studio 17:
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Images Copyright 2009 by
John Plocher
and Katy Dickinson
KatysBlog 