Tax time - What are you doing with your refund?

Christ is risen!  Indeed He has!

For those here in America, this past week was a time to send off your tax return for this year’s taxes. Did you know that last year, more than 133 million taxpayers got refunds, and this year the IRS expects an average return of $2,733! However, my experience here at the Mor Gregorios Community Center has not lead me to meet many, if any, who are expecting this amount for their return.  In fact they are not expecting any return.  

The principle program at the Community Center is the employment program.  People are able to file their unemployment claims and weekly reports here.  There are also unemployment support groups, help preparing resumes, doing job searches, and many other work related activities.

Tithing is a challenge in these hard economic times, but why not try it out by giving the first 10% of your tax refund to help the Mor Gregorios Community Center make a difference in this lives of your friends and neighbors?

Just think, if you are getting the average tax return of $2,733, ten percent is only $273.30.  But this donation of unexpected money, money you have lived without all year long, could help provide:

• Food for the hungry
• Occupation for the jobless
• Clothing for the naked
• Understanding for the hopeless
• Shelter for the homeless
  

Donating 10% of your tax refund to the Mor Gregorios Community Center, or even donating all of it, will not only make a difference immediately, it could change a life!

If you are getting impatient wondering where your refund is, the IRS has made it easy to track refunds so you can plan ahead for your donation. You must wait at least one week if you filed electronically, or 28 days if you mailed it. To find your refund, visit the IRS Web site or call them 1-800-829-1954. You must have your social security number, your filing status, and the refund amount.  

Thanks for considering making a 10% donation of your refund check to the Mor Gregorios Community Center to help make a difference in the lives of your friends and neighbors!

1 Chronicles 29:13-14
13 “Now therefore, our God,
We thank You
And praise Your glorious name.

14 But who am I, and who are my people,
That we should be able to offer so willingly as this?
For all things come from You,
And of Your own we have given You."

You can make a difference in the lives of your friends and neighbors.  You are called by God to do just that.  To discover how you can help, email us at monastery@synesius.com, or call the Mor Gregorios Community Center and St. Mary the Protectress Syriac Orthodox Church at 574-540-2048.  You will make a difference in someone’s life.

Yours in Christ,
Father Theodosius