Two North Huntingdon natives are helping low-income residents through tax season.
Daniel Shields and Sean Molyneaux, both students at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, are volunteers for Westmoreland Human Opportunities, which is coordinating the program.
The motivation, Shields says, was simple.
"I wanted to do something with taxes," the college junior and Greensburg Central Catholic High School graduate said. "I thought it would be a nice thing to do."
Jennifer Bodnar, who is coordinating the assistance program, said it is an extension of services offered year-round.
"This is considered the free, low-income tax service," Bodnar said. "We deal with low-income people or people that have a household income of under $40,000. Some of them are clients, some have had taxes done here last year. We also inserted information with food banks and different area agencies so that people would know what's available for them."
Molyneaux said he found out about the program when visitors came to an accounting class at the college looking for volunteers. The Norwin graduate and North Huntingdon native, who also plays soccer at St. Vincent, said the volunteer accounting work was a first for him.
"It really interests me because I like accounting," he said. "I got into it to help other people and this gives me a chance to do that."
Kelly King, service learning director at the college, was one of the visitors to Molyneaux's class. She said that Molyneaux and Shields, along with three other St. Vincent students, are the first to participate in the tax assistance program.
The service program is one of several the college has recently initiated. In some instances, professors request service ideas that might apply to a course offered at the college, King said. In the tax assistance case, WHO came to the college looking for volunteers.
"It has a nice social service aspect to it that also gets our students some real-world experience," King said.
The students, along with other volunteers, spend two nights a week on average helping complete tax forms. The volunteers have handled about 100 returns so far. While clients are coming to Greensburg for assistance, Bodnar said a second site in Monessen also is available.
Students also may be traveling to sites in other parts of the county to offer assistance as the tax form submission deadline nears.
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