Annual Report 2018-19

VOLUNTEER HIGHLIGHT Taxpayers in Floyd have become accustomed to seeking out Lee Henkel at the onset of each tax season. With ten years of service under her belt, Lee has completed hundreds of tax returns as an NRCA VITA volunteer and built rewarding relationships with many clients along the way. One of the most notable components of VITA that strikes Lee when reflecting on her de- cade of service is how incredibly hard peo- ple work in Floyd County and how unsteady employment seems to be in the area, caus- ing many of her clients to work 3 or 4 jobs to make ends meet. She is also struck by the large doses of appreciation expressed by cli- ents, noting that her job is to “take away the fear.” Lee decided to give VITA a try after reading about the program in a newspaper article. A previous small business owner and daughter of a CPA, Lee was familiar with taxes, so she was not intimidated by the lengthy process of studying for and passing the IRS-sponsored VITA volunteer certification exam. Lee encourages those who are capable of handling tax preparation to consider volun- teering, citing the tremendous opportunity to contribute to the well-being of hard working, lower-income Floyd County neighbors who are uniformly appreciative of the help. While Lee has decided to retire from VITA tax preparation, she has graciously offered to continue assisting the program behind the scenes by transporting taxes to other volun- teers as part of the agency’s tax return drop- off system. Our sincere thanks to Lee for her commit- ment to both the NRCA VITA program and the tax payers in Floyd County!

Lee Hetzel

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