Randy and Ruth Johnson have been serving the citizens of Hendricks County for a combined 17 years through their volunteer leadership of the AARP Tax-Aide Program. Each year more than 30 volunteers prep and train for months to provide free tax preparation services to Hendricks County’s senior citizens and low income individuals. Randy serves as the Hendricks County Local Coordinator and his wife, Ruth, is the lead client facilitator. With roughly eight hundred participants a year, the AARP Tax-Aide provides an estimated $250,000 in tax preparation services annually to individuals who otherwise wouldn’t be able to or would likely struggle to file their taxes properly. These services help alleviate frustrations for those individuals while minimizing unnecessary stress on the IRS by ensuring accurate filings.
Randy and Ruth’s work may not seem glamorous to you. They know how important it is to the community and were honored accordingly by CICOA as Hendricks County Senior Volunteers of the Year for 2019. As volunteer leaders they also know how important it is to facilitate opportunities for others to volunteer in their community. This year those important tax services and volunteer services were threatened by a relocation to a new facility. Due to renovations at the Plainfield Public Library, AARP Tax-Aide was moved to the Guilford Township Hummel Park Community Building. With a new location secured Randy and Ruth set about to get their new operations up and running. One problem remained. AARP takes client security seriously which requires a dedicated wifi router for all AARP Tax-Aide transactions. With funds being limited C2IT offered to donate labor and expertise necessary to establish a secure wifi connection that enables Randy and his volunteers to serve our neighbors who need his services the most.
Chet and Andrew of C2IT Consulting worked with Randy and the Guilford Township Parks Department to scope out the needs of the project. They were diligent to ensure the requirements of AARP were met when establishing the new WiFi system. During each session Randy and his volunteers are hustling to serve as many clients as possible. access to the required technology is critical. In addition to needing the right technology there’s also great need for volunteers as each year they are forced to turn clients away due to lack of availability. If you’d like to learn more about volunteering click here. Despite the challenges, through collaboration and a community minded attitude, C2IT was able to help Randy, Ruth, and the rest of their volunteers keep serving.
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