http://ngimagination.wordpress.com/2006/01/12/what-i-learned-from-hitting-a-homeless-guy/ Nonprofits, NGOs, and Creativity Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:09:44 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://ngimagination.wordpress.com/2006/01/12/what-i-learned-from-hitting-a-homeless-guy/#comment-2 Archana Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:36:30 +0000 http://ngimagination.wordpress.com/2006/01/12/what-i-learned-from-hitting-a-homeless-guy/#comment-2 I totally hear you. When I was an attorney, I volunteered doing tax returns for low-income people. One Saturday morning, the nicest gentleman - dressed in faded denim and construction boots - walked in. He was a contract construction worker, never graduated from high school, could barely read, and just could not make ends meet even though he worked so hard. We ran all the numbers on his return together, and found out that he did not qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (imagine my joy at informing him of that one). He gently asked me, "Isn't there a tax credit on there for being homeless?". I was stunned. His address was a P.O. Box at the 'Y'... We just don't think about homelessness and the working poor enough - thanks for raising the issues. I totally hear you. When I was an attorney, I volunteered doing tax returns for low-income people. One Saturday morning, the nicest gentleman – dressed in faded denim and construction boots – walked in. He was a contract construction worker, never graduated from high school, could barely read, and just could not make ends meet even though he worked so hard. We ran all the numbers on his return together, and found out that he did not qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (imagine my joy at informing him of that one). He gently asked me, “Isn’t there a tax credit on there for being homeless?”. I was stunned. His address was a P.O. Box at the ‘Y’… We just don’t think about homelessness and the working poor enough – thanks for raising the issues.

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