COMMUNITY STORIES

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) provides free tax preparation for people earning up to $73k annually. Each year, VITA recruits dozens of local volunteers and provides free classes and IRS Certification. Jesse was one of those volunteers. “The VITA team at United Way of Tucson worked hard to help as many people possible, given the extreme circumstances of the pandemic. My interactions with the VITA participants were extremely rewarding. The first client that comes to mind was a gentleman who was laid off early in the pandemic. He was forced to move off one of Arizona’s reservations to a bigger city to look for work. When we spoke, he still had not found work. Because he had not received any stimulus payments, I was able to help ease his financial situation through the work we do.”