PATTI’S STORY

Patti, age 50, is a single mom who cares for her teenaged son and three young grandchildren. It’s a challenge to keep up with the kids, and to make ends meet on what she earns—just under $13,000 per year—working at a local restaurant. Even with food assistance and other occasional help from a local United Way Partner Agency, she struggles to provide daily necessities and to meet the needs of her three-year old grandson, who has chronic health problems. Extra financial stressors take a toll, like when the air conditioner broke early this year and had to be replaced so her grandson could breathe more easily. Coming so soon after the death of her father, this unusual expense depleted Patti physically and emotionally, as well as financially.

But relief came where she least expected to find it. Patti was overjoyed when she went to a free tax preparation site, a partner in United Way’s Money in Your Pocket Coalition, and learned that she qualified for over $5,000 in Earned Income Tax Credits. “It makes me cry even now, just to think of how much help it was,” she says. Every year the Money in Your Pocket Coalition, a United Way-led partnership of nonprofit and governmental organizations, recruits and trains hundreds of community volunteers who help low-income working families complete and file their tax returns. Like Patti, many low-income individuals and families can’t afford professional tax preparation services and don’t know that they are eligible for tax credits and deductions that can make a substantial difference to their financial stability. United Way’s campaign to return millions in withheld earnings to financially struggling families has had an impact that increases each year. Last tax season, MIYPC served 10,152 low-income working families and put $6.3 million in Earned Income Tax Credits back in the pockets of low-income breadwinners in our community.

With a total refund of about $6,500, Patti was able to catch up on her bills and has resolved to build her savings. She elected to participate in MIYPSaves, a United Way savings program that provided her with a $150 match when she diverted $300 of her tax refund to a PNC savings account. Patti deposits $5 per paycheck into this “rainy day” account, which she says is “a godsend” when she has an unbudgeted expense. And now she has some financial flexibility to help others: “I believe in paying it forward,” she says. “I needed help, and United Way was there for me. So whenever I have a little extra, I try to help someone else.”

You can help low-income families like Patti’s achieve financial stability by supporting United Way’s free income tax preparation campaign.  Volunteer or donate to help cover the costs of volunteer recruitment and training, community outreach, and program operations across our region. MIYPC volunteers come from all walks of life; you don’t have to be a financial professional. Sign up or make a gift today at https://test.uwswpa.org/money-in-your-pocket-coalition/ . To learn more, contact Kiandra Foster, Program Manager, Helping Families THRIVE, at (412) 261-6010.