Celebration Event Awards This year, due to time constraints at the Volunteer Celebration and the fact that the Real$ense volunteers have grown in numbers,VITA Site Coordinators and Tax- Aide Local Coordinators were asked to do the impossible and designate one volunteer to win their “Choice Award,” as the outstanding volunteer at each site. (See Choice Award winners sidebar on front page.) “George Meyer was my Choice Volunteer,” said Sylvia Wren, AARP Tax Aide Local Coordinator at the Beaches Regional Library. “He’s always there to help everyone.” Sylvia talked of Meyer’s sensitive, caring help to a widow whose husband had always handled taxes in the past. “So many widows and widowers come to us absolutely terrified of doing taxes for the first time by themselves,” Sylvia noted. “That’s where great volunteers like George come in. And when they’ve finished with a tax return, they have grateful clients.” One of those grateful clients who found tax assistance through Real$ense is John Randolph of Ponte Vedra Beach. Randolph, who is deaf, is employed at Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, and his wife, Celeste, also deaf, runs a lawn service. Randolph told the gathering that the Real$ense Prosperity Campaign had made a real difference in his tax preparation, enabling him to reap the benefits of tax advantages he had previously known nothing about. Randolph spoke through his interpreter, Justin Abenchuchen of the I.L.R.C. (Independent Living Resource Center of Northeast Florida), using American Sign Language. At the end of his touching speech, Randolph smiled broadly and signed vigorously, thanking IRS Senior Tax Consultant Mark Browne for his outstanding assistance and eliciting a big laugh from the audience as he also thanked Mark for not singing!” Khristine Gray, a single mom and another happy Real$ense client – and this past year, a Real$ense volunteer as well – has been in the national spotlight due to the remarkable progress she has made through accessing all of the functions the Real$ense partners offer – Money Smart financial education, and Individual Development Accounts (matched savings accounts) in addition to free income tax preparation. Khristine got up to speak and surprised and impressed all present with a passionate, insightful poem of thanksgiving for the Real$ense partners and process. (See side box for poem on front page.) Jeff Winkler, Real$ense Associate Director and Gene Bartels, AARP Tax-Aide District Manager shared the stage and the pleasure of presenting Site Coordinators and their Choice Volunteers with special recognition, while IRS’s Mark Browne and Priscilla Phillips handed out the awards. Both Gene and Jeff thanked all volunteers and urged them to re-commit to volunteering in 2009. Of the 180 volunteers present – from Tax-Aide, VITA, and Benefit Bank sites – more than one third of them did just that. “That will be a great core group to begin with next year,” said Winkler.