AARP Tax-Aide available to file seniors’ tax returns

The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program, staffed by volunteers, has started preparing tax returns for seniors and mid- and low-income residents.

The Tax-Aide program prepares and files electronic federal and state returns Mondays through Saturdays at the Lions Club building on Elm Avenue Southwest.

The free tax preparation is performed by trained, IRS- certified counselors, and appointments for tax preparation services are being scheduled.

Taxpayers should bring a copy of their 2011 return; applicable 2012 tax documents; picture identification for all adults on the tax return; and Social Security cards for all individuals listed on the return.

For more information or to make an appointment, call 345-2820.

In 2012, a group of about 34 volunteers with the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program electronically filed federal and state income tax returns for about 1,900 residents in the Roanoke Valley and Franklin, Montgomery and Pulaski counties.

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The Feeding America Southwest Virginia food bank has received a $10,000 donation from the Food Lion Charitable Foundation.

“We value our continued partnership and are pleased that we have an opportunity to help the community through this wonderful organization,” said Robert Harris, a Food Lion store manager.

The food bank is reporting a 9 percent increase in need for food assistance from its partner programs that feed more than 122,000 people each month in Southwest Virginia, officials said. Food Lion’s $10,000 gift will provide 43,400 meals.

“Food Lion has been a partner in providing hunger relief to the local communities that we serve,” said John Shoulders, senior vice president of business affairs for the food bank.

In 2012, Food Lion was named one of Feeding America Southwest Virginia’s Project 360 Partners.

Project 360 integrates four primary categories of opportunities — a minimum of $10,000, volunteer, collect food or advocate — for corporations and businesses to become partners in hunger relief efforts.

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Children’s Trust, which has been serving Roanoke Valley’s victims of child abuse for 34 years, has received accreditation from the National Children’s Alliance.

The alliance awards various levels of accreditation and membership to children’s advocacy centers that respond to allegations of child abuse in ways that are effective and efficient and put the needs of child victims of abuse first.

Accreditation is the highest level of membership with the alliance and denotes excellence in service provision.

Children’s Trust began as the Child Abuse and Neglect Coordinating Council, with a focus on child abuse prevention and added the children’s advocacy center designation in 2005. Since that time, the center has served 1,454 children between the ages of 3 and 17.

The accreditation “not only validates our organization’s proven effective approach to responding to allegations of child abuse, but also provides consistency across the child advocacy center movement as a whole,” said Janice Dinkins Davidson, executive director of Children’s Trust.

The agency offers a child-friendly, safe facility where children can tell their stories of abuse to a specialized forensic interviewer.

The agency also offers support for the child’s family and serves more than 90 percent of the child abuse victims in Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke County.

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