Today is a SNOW DAY here in Wichita Falls. That’s right, a snow day in Texas. I thought that was the last thing I would have to deal with while we were here and everyone back in South Carolina was missing school and work for a week or so. Our supervisor Lana was even surprised by the sudden change in weather last night when it started sleeting, but none of us thought it would actually snow. I saw it when I got up at 7 this morning to see if we were going to need to go to work, and to my pleasant surprise the ground was covered. We have all been laying around watching shows on our computers, reading, napping, and some even went to the park to play in the snow.
This past Saturday was our first full day of tax filing open to the public. It was a long week, working Tuesday to Friday; everyone felt like we had not had any time off and Monday was such a long time ago. Saturday didn’t help. We were given tickets to the Pancake Festival for Saturday morning, so the team got up at 6:30am so we would have plenty of time to enjoy the delicious breakfast before work. We arrived at the site at 8:15 and were there until 6:30pm. It was a long day. We filed over 120 taxes, surpassing the number of the first day last year.
On Sunday we went and volunteered with Faith Mission, the local shelter in town. The Mission is a shelter for men, women, and children. It also provides housing and programs for recovering addicts. They serve 3 meals a day with the stipulation that those who eat first attend the chapel services. It was a good experience for our team to see how the homeless population lives in this community. In Wichita Falls and the surrounding communities in the county there are nearly 3,000 homeless individuals. I found the experience to be humbling and inspirational. We helped fold clothes in the clothing room with two women, both working the program, which had been sober for 70 days. It is good to see the program working for so many individuals and for them to have such a strong friendship and support group with each other. Also, serving lunch to the individuals and having them be so grateful to us when we were only able to give them half of a peanut butter sandwich and some cookies was almost enough to bring me to tears. Sure some people complained, but wouldn’t you if all you were going to have to eat that day was two tiny pieces of bread with a thin layer of peanut butter on them? Some members of my team didn’t get it and thought they should be grateful for whatever they get. Should they be grateful for people’s leftovers because they can’t afford to feed themselves? It’s sad to think that so many people in this country have that exact same perspective. No wonder so many people are hungry and struggling to get by, because if people see they even have a little or the ability to scrounge for something, then what more do they need? They should be grateful for that dollar they were given. I tried to have a conversation with my teammate, but he/she claimed to see what I was saying, but was still surprised by their ingratitude. Obviously, he/she did not see what I was saying.
This week we are opening the tax sites in Wichita Falls and the rural areas. We will be taking appointments and walk-ins to file their income taxes all day the majority of the days we have left here. Some situations have already presented themselves that have been difficult to handle; people owing large sums of money, people asking us to file their taxes in such a way that they get a larger return but is not completely accurate to their household, etc. I am sure we will see a lot more of that before this round is over. We are hoping to get a few more Texan things in before we leave in five weeks though. Lana invited us on a day trip to Fort Worth Texas so we can see a cattle drive, visit the cowboy hall of fame, and maybe go to a rodeo. Because Fort Worth is out of our range, we had to ask permission from our unit leader, so we are waiting to hear back from her before we make any final plans. They are also trying to plan a Ranch Day for us with one of the board members of the United Way. She wants to have us out for a BBQ and to ride horses, but we are waiting to hear back from her as well. I hope both of these things work out. We are all in desperate need of getting out of the house.
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