CARES: Community Assistance Resource & Educational Services

CARES
Launched in early 2011, CARES will host seminars at the library on a variety of topics dealing with local, state and federal programs. The goal is to inform and educate local residents about programs for which they may be eligible and about which they have questions. Expert speakers and government representatives will be invited to speak.

Next CARES program:

Don’t Buy THAT Health Insurance: Become an Educated Health Care Consumer”- Thursday, May 9 at 7:00 pm

What is the single most important number in your health insurance?  (Answer: MOOP.) How is healthcare reform affecting you now and how may it affect you in 2014 and beyond?  What is the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare?  Join us as Katherine Woodfield, a consumer educating health insurance broker, answers these questions and explains how we need to understand the system that is being reformed before we can understand the healthcare changes now underway. Join us for an evening of health insurance education: you will be surprised at how much money you can save! Click here to sign up.

 VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance)
VITA is a program which falls under the CARES umbrella and has assisted residents in calculating and filing their income taxes for over 15 years. It is now available to help all year around, not just in the first four months of the year. In the months after April 15, Coordinator Bob Baker and other volunteers can help with estimated taxes, tax filing extensions, and returns that are being filed under extension.

The library is looking for new volunteers for 2012 so that the number of residents served can grow. Tax season may seem far away, but it’s only four months until training for the VITA volunteers takes place in January. Public appointments are scheduled starting in mid-February.

Becoming a VITA volunteer is easy and rewarding, but does require a time commitment of approximately three to four hours a week during tax season (February through April 15). For details on joining this special group of volunteers, contact Madelyn English at 908-766-0118.