Another Great Year for VITA students

A total of 195 students from Hanna, Pace, Lopez, Rivera, Porter, Veterans Memorial, and Los Fresnos High Schools participated in this year’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program sponsored by the United Way of Southern Cameron County. The VITA students spent countless hours preparing and e-filing income tax returns for working families that qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit. These student volunteers and their sponsors filed 3,810 returns at no cost to the families. The families received $4,636,070.00 in Earned Income and other tax credits. The total refunds received were $7,073,120.00. Every penny went to the families because there were no tax preparation or refund anticipation fees. This is the sixth year that Porter ECHS, under the direction of Albert Velez, has offered free income tax services. Special thanks to BISD’s VITA students for assisting the Brownsville community through this United Way program.