Champion in Giving Award: Arthur W. Cooper
April 2011: Arthur W. Cooper
Congratulations to April’s winner of the Triangle Gives Back Champion in Giving award: Arthur Cooper! Art was nominated by Fiscal Progress for his 6+ years of participation in their Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. Art has selected the Salvation Army of Wake County as the recipient of the $250 donation in his name, with special recognition of the organization’s disaster relief efforts after the recent tornados and devastation of the terrible storms.
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A message from Art:
“Many thanks for your email notifying me of the Triangle Gives Back award for which I was nominated by Fiscal Progress. I appreciate the award very much and I also appreciate Fiscal Progress' thoughtfulness in nominating me. One does not go into volunteer work with the expectation of either reward or recognition. One does it because it is enjoyable and constitutes a way of contributing to the life of the Triangle, particularly to those parts of the Triangle community that are less fortunate than others.
“I came to the Triangle almost 53 years ago when I began teaching at NC State. I taught there until I retired in 2001 with the exception of 5 1/2 years from 1971-1976 when I served in State Government as Assistant Secretary of what was then Natural and Economic Resources [now the Department of Environment and Natural Resources]. My wife, Jean, and I have been married for almost 58 years and we have two sons, Paul who is a computer programmer in the Medical School at Chapel Hill and Roy who teaches Social Studies and coaches at Apex High School.
“When I retired in 2001, like many retirees, I began to look for volunteer work that would fit my interests and retirement life and which I would find interesting and hopefully helpful to others. My first work began in 2002 with the North Carolina Volunteer Train Host Association working about once a month as a host on the Piedmont, the train North Carolina runs from Raleigh to Charlotte. We believe that we have contributed substantially toward convincing people that railroad trains are a highly acceptable and desirable form of transportation. Ridership has risen dramatically since North Carolina first got into the train business, and we Train Hosts like to think we had a lot to do with that success.
“I got involved with Fiscal Progress and its tax work in early 2005. I had taken over lead responsibility for our personal taxes from my wife who had done them for the first 50 years of our marriage. One evening, a friend commented that he did tax work for H & R Block and that they regularly ran "schools" for people to learn the rudiments of tax preparation. That sounded interesting so I took a course in the fall of 2004--most of the people in our class intended to become paid tax preparers but that really didn't appeal to me. Somehow, I learned of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) that the IRS runs and decided that would be a better place to use my new-found "expertise." At the VITA training session I met several people from Fiscal Progress and they indicated that they needed volunteers to work in the VITA program they were running. Inasmuch as Fiscal Progress' offices were then adjacent to Lake Boone Shopping Center about a mile from my house I decided that would be an ideal place to work. I've been with Fiscal Progress ever since, usually working 2 afternoons a week from late January to mid-April.
“My motivation in doing volunteer tax work is primarily to assist persons who, for whatever reason, are not able to do their own taxes. I am stubborn enough so that I refuse to let the tax system win--it should not be so complicated that average people cannot cope with it. Because the tax code has gotten so complicated, even for low income persons, many do not have the time or the knowledge to cope with it. Thus, my motivation for volunteering--to help those who cannot help themselves. The experience has been enjoyable but very sobering. It has taught me that there are many people in our community who are struggling financially, frequently due to no fault of their own, and who cannot afford paid tax assistance. Helping these people is reward enough for the time I put in.
“Interestingly, the very first person whose taxes I did in January 2005 is now the young lady who runs Fiscal Progress' volunteer tax operation. She is my boss and she has learned so much about taxes that I frequently turn to her for guidance on a complex question or when my 80-year-old mind does a mental lock-up on some often embarrassingly simply problem. The atmosphere in the Fiscal Progress office is very positive--we're here to help and we will find a way to get your problem resolved. Not infrequently we will help a client who is several years in arrears on taxes or who needs to file an amended return. Everyone is treated in the same friendly way, proof that we are there to help and not to make judgments.”
December 2010: Officer Chip Slade
Congratulations to Officer Chip Slade as our newest recipient of the "Champion of Giving Back" award! A $250 donation will be presented to his organization Bushido Women's Self Defense to honor the tireless and selfless work that he and others at BWSD do year-round. Learn more about Bushido Women's Self Defense and Officer Slade below.
November 2010: Sandra Carrington-Smith
Congratulations to our first ever "Champion of Giving Back", Sandra Carrington-Smith. Our community spoke up and Ms. Carrington-Smith was nominated by an overwhelming majority of voters!
Ms. Carrington-Smith has chosen "Standing Inside the Gap, Inc." as the recipient of a $250 grant in her honor. Standing Inside The Gap, Inc. seeks to "provide a variety of supportive services to those who need it in our communities and to partner with other organizations in our communities that offer services that our youth may need in a way to support the holistic human being."
