Teen Volunteers Help Bring $1.8M Back to Community Members

For many in the communities served by EBALDC, a tax refund is a critical financial lifeline–one that helps cover essential expenses or pays down debt. EBALDC’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program addresses this need by providing free tax preparation services. in the 2022 tax season, our VITA program returned over $1.8 million dollars to low-to middle-income community members.

103 dedicated volunteers supported the free preparation of 1,318 tax returns through their collective contribution of 3500 volunteer hours.

Talio Ubalde, VITA volunteer

Some of these volunteers are teens.

Talio Ubalde, a 16-year-old VITA volunteer, was 15 when he first started volunteering for VITA and for EBALDC. Though some clients are initially skeptical of young volunteers, Talio described a detailed training and testing process to ensure that all VITA volunteers are adequately prepared to help the public: “We [have to be] certified by VITA and pass an exam that makes us qualified to file taxes. We go through two 7-hour trainings. Then we have to pass an intake exam and then an exam to qualify for helping do basic taxes. And then you have to pass another exam in order to do more difficult taxes.” 

16-year-old VITA volunteer Brian Chen noted that while at first nervous about being a student volunteer, he found the experience to be positive. “One of the biggest things I learned was patience,” said Brian. “I volunteered at the Asian Resource Center location, and it was kind of hard to communicate sometimes with older and non-English speaking clients.” 

Brian Chen, VITA Volunteer

VITA teen volunteers also stated that dealing with unexpected situations forced them to work on problem-solving skills. Talio described one time when the internet completely shut down, and he was left with a frustrated client whose young daughter was with him, crying: “I used my personal hotspot, and I gave the kid a lollipop to stop crying.”

Tiffany Chen, (Brian’s sister) now a freshman at UC Berkeley, said that many of the clients she worked with in the last two VITA tax seasons were Asian elders with language barriers: “I could speak some Chinese, but still there were some language barriers. Both me and the clients were nervous. Expressing and communicating is hard already, and using another language is even harder for me. We’d still work to try to understand each other. Sometimes it went well. Sometimes not so well…. Sometimes it was frustrating when we were trying to help. Many times, things ended up taking a long time because of the language. I didn’t give up and they didn’t give up. We just sat through it, and I was surprised we were all so patient to do everything. In the end they were so relieved and so thankful for you being able to be them.” 

VITA Client

Despite the challenges, the VITA teen volunteers cherished their VITA volunteer experience. Said Tiffany: “VITA definitely got me more involved with the community. When I was volunteering at VITA, I noticed a big difference between school volunteering like organizing parties and org social events vs. working directly with people who actually really need your work. It helps you feel like you are more useful to society.”

Talio further offered that “VITA helped me come out of my shell. When I first started volunteering in early 2022, I was also learning how to speak to people again, coming out into society again [after the pandemic shutdown]. I was in school in late 2021 but I wasn’t really talking to anyone. At VITA, I really had to get out of my shell; I had to speak to people, so they could understand what I was doing. Also, I had to learn how to pick apart what I was asking people—how to ask the right questions and not to be afraid to ask questions.” 

The VITA teen volunteers encouraged anyone thinking about volunteering to get involved. Said Tiffany: “If you don’t know anything about taxes, that doesn’t matter – other volunteers will help you and support you along the way.”

If you or anyone you know might be interested in volunteering for VITA, please email volunteer@ebaldc.org. Roles include intake specialists, tax preparers, translator, and admin support. If you are looking to learn new skills, work directly with clients, and have a real impact in your community, please be in touch. No experience is necessary.