Don't stress over filing your taxes: Tips on where to go for free help

Benjamin Franklin's famous quote "The only thing certain in life are death and taxes" may have an element of truth to it, but that doesn't mean doing your taxes has to cause so much stress that you'd rather be 20-feet under.

It's a given that non-health related events in our lives - such as filing taxes - causes health issues resulting from the stress tied to it. Even the U.S. federal government realizes that tax season can cause undue stress, and offers tips on its website on how to deal with it. Read more here.

I'm here to tell you there are places in the Greater Springfield area where you can get FREE help with you're taxes,  or at least offer free information on how to make the process a lot easier.

Springfield Partners for Community Action:


Springfield Partners for Community Action's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program provides FREE income tax filing assistance to low-to-moderate income taxpayers, and to taxpayers who are disabled or speak limited English. The service is provided up through April 15. You must call for an appointment. Walk-in services are not provided. For a listing of VITA sites see below.

Income eligibility guidelines are $21,660 for a family of one; $29,140 for family of two, $36,620 for a family of three, $44,100 for a family of four, $51,589 for a family of five, and so on following the federal poverty guidelines.

VITA helps working families take advantage of all of the tax credits available to them, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and education credits. Volunteers help prepare basic, current year tax returns for eligible taxpayers free of charge.

2011 VITA sites in Springfield:

• Springfield Partners for Community Action, 619 or 721 State St., (413) 263-6500.
• Moxon Apartments Community Room, Indian Orchard, 20 LaFrance St., (413) 263-6500
• 1199 SEIU, 20 Maple St., (877) 409-1199
• Open Pantry, 2460 Main st., (413) 263-6500
• Hampden Bank, 19 Harrison Ave., (413) 263-6500
• Goodwill Industries, 475 Sumner Ave., (413) 263-6500
• Farris Mitchell Education Development Center, Brightwood, 103 Division St., (413) 785-4500
• Barton Neighborhood Center, 160 Nursery St., (413) 785-4500.

For seniors who need help

For seniors, tax preparation locations in the Springfield area are offered through the AARP Tax-Aide Program. Locations for tax preparation services are at the Good Life Center, Greenleaf Center and Pine Point Center.

To schedule an appointment at the Good Life Center, call (413) 787-6785. One hour appointments are scheduled for 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. every Thursday through April 7.

To schedule an appointment at the Greenleaf Center call (413) 750-2873, Appointments will be for 45-minutes at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays through April 12.

To schedule an appointment at the Pine Point Center call (413) 732-1072. Appointments will be held during the afternoons up through April 13.

Don't let the annual task of filing taxes get you under the weather. Seek help first and good luck.

What does a healthy neighborhood look like to you?

In every community there is a neighborhood or two that seems to have a societal stigma attached to it, whether from ill-founded cultural biases to actual disparaging factors that may exist.

If you live in Springfield, one of the areas in the community that appears to have such a stigma is the 01109 zip code, which is five sections of the city largely identified as Mason Square. 

People believe there is so much violence and drugs in these neighborhoods that students who attend the surrounding colleges are sometimes warned to not get too far away from their campus. I believe the Mason Square area is no more violent or drug infested than any other zip code in Springfield. If the police collected data on violence and drugs in this area, they would probably come to the same conclusion.

A healthy neighborhood has neighbors who know each other; they greet each other in the morning and bid each other good night in the evening when they are out. They look out for their neighbor’s property and children. A healthy neighborhood looks like a community the President of the United States would be glad to bring his or her children for vacation or to see the Basketball Hall of Fame. What do you think a healthy neighborhood looks like? Go to masonsquarehealthtaskforce.org and check out the website, and then I encourage you to submit your opinion to zgovan@mlkjrfamilyservices.org.  I know your ideas will resemble Mason Square.

If you want to get involved in helping to continue to keep Mason Square healthy and make it even healthier, join the Mason Square Health Task Force. The quarterly meeting will be on Dec. 16, 2010 at Rebecca Johnson School. For more information, contact me at (413) 739-4901 or email me at zgovan@mlkjrfamilyservices.org. 

Growing up in Springfield, I remember being able to hang out with my friends and my brothers'  friends and just having a good time. The city is still the same!  The media would like to portray Springfield as a crime infested city that no one wants to live in. That is the farthest thing from the truth. Traveling to California, Louisiana, Florida, New York and other major cities, it is clear that Springfield is a great city to live in. Mason Square is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the City of Homes. The old Victorian homes are something to treasure and exhibit. Many great things and people have lived here, and great things happened in this area including the birth of basketball, the Indian motorcycle, great leader Primus Mason, great colleges, and many more. Great things continue to happen here, and great people continue to live here.

The next time you drive up and down State Street take notice of the positive things in Mason Square. Look at the new trees that were planted recently, the paved streets and the beautiful friendly people waiting for the bus, or walking down the street. If the media would focus on these, they would see that there is more positive than negative in Mason Square. The children walking to and from school are innocent and need to be protected from negative influences. It is our responsibility to do this. To start, we have to focus on the positive. Give them an  opportunity to grow up healthy and safe from the ills that face us and other places in this country.