041 Brandi Ghergia—Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)—Amazing Results
As the senior manager of the Nashville Alliance for Financial Independence at United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, Brandi Ghergia manages four financial stability programs—Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), the Nashville Financial Empowerment Center, Bank On Music City, and the Nashville Alliance for Financial Independence. The VITA program, with the help of over 260 dedicated volunteers, produced over 15,000 income tax returns in a 30-county area in 2016, resulting in nearly $24 million in tax refunds in Middle Tennessee.
The impact VITA is making is amazing. Volunteers don’t have to have a tax preparation background, but they do need to know about computers and be friendly…no grumpy volunteers! Not only do the people helped return each year, but also the volunteers. The service, performed by the volunteers in both a professional and caring manner, creates a sense of community that invites reconnecting from tax season to tax season.
United Way is making a better Nashville by creating strategic, scalable solutions focused on education, financial stability, and health—the building blocks for a good life! A quality education leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family through retirement, and good health. Creating solutions in these areas moves people from dependence to independence.
Links:
Local, Nashville, TN volunteers: www.volunteerforvita.org.
Out-of-state volunteering: www.irs.com.
Taxpayers: www.unitedwayfilefree.com.
Phone number and email address for volunteers:
615.861-3008
You can find other episodes in the series at retiretovolunteering.com.
Please support this series at patreon.com/volunteering.