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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Bringing in the Money

Getting Close to their Goal
Ginger Conrad and Mike Toth from HARTACUS, Tri County Community Action Agency, proudly display their piggy bank drawing.  It is their goal to help Ohioans bring $500,000 back to Ohio through tax returns. 

HARTACUS, through their hard work, provides tax clinics in remote areas, such as the one pictured.  We were in Cadiz, Ohio at the local library.  As of February 2012, HARTACUS had completed over 275 returns this tax season, leading the way among Benefit Bank sites in the North East region of Ohio. 

The weather was so warm we needed to open a window---a sign that Spring is almost here.  Yay!

Monday, March 12, 2012

"Chilling" in Canton

I always get disappointed with mild winters. Granted mild winters mean less tax clinic cancellations, but the New England in me really enjoys a terrifying ice storm. Those have been hard to come by this year.

Despite the lack of Nor'easters, the weather can still get nippy. So nippy that doing one's taxes inside of a mobile office can be uncomfortable. So from December to April, Erin and I take refuge in offices belonging to the very nice people that invite us to help out with tax clinics. Much warmer that way.

All that inside time is great for the comfort of clients and counselors alike, but it also means we haven't taken advantage of our impressive technology in a while. A tax clinic in Canton, OH allowed us to rectify that.

We were invited to Canton by Trillium Family Solutions for a tax clinic hosted by CSE Federal Credit Union. The space was gorgeous, but we didn't have a wireless Internet connection.

Enter the Mobile!

Perhaps the fanciest feature on the Mobile Express is our satellite dish. With only a view of the Southern sky, we can set up shop and fill an entire room with the lifeblood we call Wi-Fi. By pulling our mobile office next to the building, our satellite allowed at least five different counselors to access the Internet. By the end of the day, everyone had completed a total of 68 applications. That's a pretty spectacular day and it was an honor to help contribute to its success.

And I am excited to report that Canton got an inch of snow during our stay. It may not be the snowpocalypse I was hoping for, but at least I feel like I've had at least a taste of winter.