I am a single mom, found myself unable to look for work because I had no trust worthy Childcare. With Community Action Partnership and 4C combining their efforts I was able to afford Childcare while looking for a job. I am currently employed and am still receiving help from 4c. But my son is benefiting from mom having the money to afford a roof over our head Heat and Air and water flowing and food on the table. I can support us now and I am grateful for all of your help!
You could be eligible to get more money back from the IRS – as much as $5,751. If you earned less than $49,078 from wages, self-employment, or farming last year, you may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit – or EITC.
EITC is a financial boost for working people in a recovering economy. You may be among the millions who will qualify for the first time because your financial, marital or parental status changed in 2011.
Eligibility is based on several factors, including the amount of earned and other types of income, or combined income if married, whether you have qualifying children and how many. Workers without children may also qualify.
Four of five eligible people claim and get their EITC. Use IRS’s online EITC Assistant to see if you qualify. If so, you must file and claim the credit to get it.
Free help is available at volunteer income tax assistance sites. Locate a volunteer site by calling your community’s 211 or 311 number for local services or call the IRS at 1-800-906-9887.
Get back even more if your state also has an EITC.
EITC. You earned it. Now file, claim it and get it.
I had the opportunity to read the book, The Help, recently. January is when the country celebrates the birth of Dr Martin Luther King, JR, so it seems fitting to talk about where we were, where we are, where we still need to go. Needless to say, this book brought back terrible memories of a much darker era in the history of our country. It is thanks to Dr King that we have made significant progress in how we treat others. I vividly recall going to Sears at 8th and Broadway with my parents and seeing two water fountains and two bathrooms, one marked colored, the other white. It’s difficult to believe now that it was a reality then. A Parish bingo hall where I worked sent all of the minorities up a long flight of stairs and kept the “whites” downstairs. (Wonder if they patted themselves on the back for being integrated)? Yes, every bit of it is in my conscious memory, and it bothers me that it happened. Thanks to Dr King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”, the countless marches attended by people of many races, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, things are better now. Our children and grandchildren may not have any sense of the injustices suffered by minorities and that is a good thing. Discuss it. Talk about how it feels to not be included. How many times have our children told us they feel like outsiders, especially when it comes to sports or birthday parties they aren’t invited to? Talk about Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and how one man’s resolve, refusal to quit, can change the world for the better.
Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol is the opportunity to show legislators that Kentucky cares about its children and youth, and talk with them about the most pressing issues Kentucky’s kids are facing today. Join us for the 8th Annual Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol on Thursday, February 16, 2012. Any and all are welcome to take a stand and raise their voice. Elected officials, social workers, teachers, law enforcement officers, judges, doctors, public health experts, therapists, members of the military, seniors, and kids will all come together to rally on children’s issues at the Capitol Rotunda and talk to legislators about the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children agenda.
Register for Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol here today! More information is available here.
Happy New Year to everyone. In many ways, a new year brings hope for brighter days. For some, it’s the beginning of the end. How, you may ask? Gone are the days of rich foods, parties, feasts, and unreasonable resolutions begin to fill the brain. There is a tendency to start out like gangbusters, making mental lists of all the improvements desired. The reality of implementing every single one sets one up for defeat. It is very difficult to try to change too much at the same time. Yes, the good intentions are there, but we are humans and can only do so much. You may wish to make one or two resolutions and stick to them. Good luck to all who opt for this plan. One thing that works for me is to make a one day resolution. My self-control needs help in the worst way, and by making this for a single day, I can more easily do that. The next day, I re-up for the same plan and so on. Before too long, three or four weeks pass and it is becoming a habit. If it becomes routine after a couple of months, I add another resolution and do that one a day at a time.
It is pretty much a universal trait that when we fail, we beat ourselves up and feel terrible for being a “loser”. By streamlining changes and/or introducing them a day at a time, there is a whole lot less to beat about our shortcomings.
Good luck with your hopes for the New Year, regardless of what they are. Maybe you will try to get more sleep, speak in a softer tone, eat a fruit a day, take a walk. Be positive when everything seems like it is overwhelming, enlist a support system for like-minded friends or family etc, and remember, if you fall off the today’s wagon, tomorrow is another opportunity.
Family traditions are those little rituals that are passed down from generation to generation. The greatest thing about family traditions is that they don’t need to cost a dime. It’s the little things, not the big things that are remembered over time.
I fondly remember helping my grandmother make Springerle cookies at Christmas. It was a special time between my grandmother and I that was repeated every year. I don’t recall one single gift that my Grandmother ever gave me for my Birthday or for Christmas, but I clearly remember the good smells, and overwhelming sense of love that I felt as a result of this simple tradition.
We all have busy lifestyles, but adding a small tradition here or there can make a huge difference in a child’s life. Family traditions give children a sense of belonging and memories they will hold for a lifetime. It’s simply a routine with meaning and all children love rituals and repetition.
By the way, I hate the way Springerle cookies taste. After our baking was complete, I always took a small nibble and secretly stashed the rest in the garbage. The cookie was not was mattered, it was the opportunity to celebrate a relationship that was important to me.
Remember when cartoons were simple, non-violent, and funny? Remember reading with your child and it was simple and fun? Two of the best books from my childhood memory are: A Child’s Garden of Verses, by Robert Louis Stevenson, and what I believe is Dr Seuss’ first book ever, If I Ran the Circus.
A Child’s Garden of Verses can be read a page at a time or the entire book. It even comes with pop-up pages, which makes it spring to life. Sometimes it’s good to share your childhood memories with your child so they can see how yet today, your eyes light up, and the words roll off the tongue. Life today is much more hectic for everyone, and of course, there are plenty of gaming systems to “entertain”, but every now and then, it’s good to revisit the simpler times.
If I Ran the Circus is one of the most creative endeavors from the mind of Dr Seuss. It sees the world through the dreams of a young child with a very active imagination. There are plenty of tongue twisters and vivid characters straight out of the mind of a child. It is memorable, funny, and together with your child, you will want it to go on forever.
Although we are grown now, our family still trots it out on Thanksgiving, each of us reading a page, bringing tone and inflection to these wonderful characters and bringing them to life. It doesn’t have anything to do with Thanksgiving. It is just the one time of year when we are together. Now it’s a ritual with another generation or two. Give you and your child a treasure, a treasure of time spent together, and possibly start a new tradition of fun for your whole family! You’ll be glad you did!!!!
