Church Donation Form

I am one of the “poor”.I wasn’t for most of my life - I worked as a mechanical engineer and, according to the IRS, had paid taxes since I was 15 and a half and a lifetime’s earnings that stretched into millions of dollars of income (again… that’s income over my working life combined)… then I get hit by a truck and can no longer work. Yes, I have money in savings, but my monthly disability check is less than what I earned in three days of my work.During the beginning of me being on disability, I tried to give back to the community in any way I could - to make myself feel that I was not totally worthless.I volunteered at a local church food bank (two hours per month). The policy was one bag of food per month per person in the household. This food was bought by monies raised by donations to the church and donations from local grocery stores (day-old bread and canned food with a little ding or dent, etc). It was all good food, not C-rations from Vietnam.On one day (it happened all the time, just not at this level), a woman comes in with the proper proof of family size… eleven children and her parents… so fourteen bags of food… she came late on the last day of the month (we had four hours twice a month). We had run low on many items we included in the bags of food.The way this operation worked was: people line up and we open at noon. As people stand in line, volunteers hand out “menu” slips to make sure people did not get food they were allergic to or could not eat (for Kosher/Halal reasons or even no hard food for people with no teeth). It was well-planned… but if we were out of items, we were out. It wasn’t like we could call the grocery store and demand them to make an express delivery or anything…Back to this woman… she had her hair with a very nice weave. Long fingernails that had been expertly manicured and was definitely NOT wearing rags… as she received her bags of food (volunteers helped carry them to her fairly new Mercedes SUV), she complained that her kids do not eat green beans! Why green beans? Last month she got green peas that her kids like, but they won’t eat green beans! She demanded we go out to the store and BUY peas right now.BTW, before we could even offer to take the bags to her vehicle (it was our policy to do it anyway), she blurts out that she is disabled and in now way can carry even ONE bag by herself… I had also overheard her boasting to another person in line about how she gets welfare for each of her dependents (11 kids and her two parents)… for those outside the US, that’s about $10,000 per month in “meager government assistance”.… and she wants the FREE food to be swapped out for something else?Another incident happened at the “Social Services” office.I was there to get a form to fill out regarding my disability… a woman behind the counter had brought in THREE trays of cookies for the people in line.This woman was in front of me. She sees the cookies and asks the woman behind the counter if they are free. The woman says “Yes” and then they go about filling out the forms she was there for… as she leaves, she again asks, “These are free?” the clerk nods and says “Yep, I bring in cookies every day for the people in line”. Without hesitation, the woman in front of me picks up all three trays and dumps every cookie into her large purse as she says “My kids will LOVE these treats”… and walks away.Why do people have a low opinion of those in the US who receive “meager” benefits? There are people who use the system to get everything they can and abuse the generosity of taxpaying citizens.I have a couple more similar stories, one even worse than the two above combined, but I cannot type anymore.People see these stories of those who game the system for additional benefits, or outright cheat the system… demanding a food bank provide peas and not green beans when it’s free food… and you drive a MERCEDES?Taxpayers pay into the system that provides these “meager” benefits, and when they see how the people receiving those benefits cheat and scam the system ending up making MORE than the people being taxed to pay for their aid, it garners some resentment… “Why should I work my butt off, lose a third of my income to taxes, and these people who benefit from my work (via taxes) live better than I do? Why should I work at all?”“If they can afford bi-weekly hair weaves, top-end manicures and drive luxury cars, why do they need money from those working hard every day?”Not everyone games the system, but many do and get away with it. When caught, it makes news… therefore, the regular working “Joe or Jane” only sees the people getting benefits who are nothing but cheaters… the news does nt report about the normal welfare recipient or disabled person, they only report the schemers… and that is the only thing regular Americans see, so the resentment is justified in a way.If the regular American saw how MOST benefit recipients lived, they would see it in a completely different light.

NOOOOOOO. You are talking to a military romance scammer. I received an email from the US Army that directly answers your question that is pasted below please keep reading.I believe you are the victim of a military Romance Scam whereas the person you are talking to is a foreign national posing as an American Soldier claiming to be stationed overseas on a peacekeeping mission. That's the key to the scam they always claim to be on a peacekeeping mission.Part of their scam is saying that they have no access to their money that their mission is highly dangerous.If your boyfriend girlfriend/future husband/wife is asking you to do the following or has exhibited this behavior, it is a most likely a scam:Moves to private messaging site immediately after meeting you on Facebook or SnapChat or Instagram or some dating or social media site. Often times they delete the site you met them on right after they asked you to move to a more private messaging siteProfesses love to you very quickly & seems to quote poems and song lyrics along with using their own sort of broken language, as they profess their love and devotion quickly. They also showed concern for your health and love for your family.Promises marriage as soon as he/she gets to state for leave that they asked you to pay for.They Requests money (wire transfers) and Amazon, iTune ,Verizon, etc gift cards, for medicine, religious practices, and leaves to come home, internet access, complete job assignments, help sick friend, get him out of trouble, or anything that sounds fishy.The military does provide all the soldier needs including food medical Care and transportation for leave. Trust me, I lived it, you are probably being scammed. I am just trying to show you examples that you are most likely being connned.Below is an email response I received after I sent an inquiry to the US government when I discovered I was scammed. I received this wonderful response back with lots of useful links on how to find and report your scammer. And how to learn more about Romance Scams.Right now you can also copy the picture he gave you and do a google image search and you will hopefully see the pictures of the real person he is impersonating. this doesn't always work and take some digging. if you find the real person you can direct message them and alert them that their image is being used for scamming.Good Luck to you and I'm sorry this may be happening to you. please continue reading the government response I received below it's very informative.   You have contacted an email that is monitored by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. Unfortunately, this is a common concern. We assure you there is never any reason to send money to anyone claiming to be a Soldier online. If you have only spoken with this person online, it is likely they are not a U.S. Soldier at all. If this is a suspected imposter social media profile, we urge you to report it to that platform as soon as possible. Please continue reading for more resources and answers to other frequently asked questions:  How to report an imposter Facebook profile: Caution-https://www.facebook.com/help/16... < Caution-https://www.facebook.com/help/16... >   Answers to frequently asked questions:  - Soldiers and their loved ones are not charged money so that the Soldier can go on leave.  - Soldiers are not charged money for secure communications or leave.  - Soldiers do not need permission to get married.  - Soldiers emails are in this format: john.doe.mil@mail.mil < Caution-mailto: john.doe.mil@mail.mil > anything ending in .us or .com is not an official email account.  - Soldiers have medical insurance, which pays for their medical costs when treated at civilian health care facilities worldwide – family and friends do not need to pay their medical expenses.  - Military aircraft are not used to transport Privately Owned Vehicles.  - Army financial offices are not used to help Soldiers buy or sell items of any kind.  - Soldiers deployed to Combat Zones do not need to solicit money from the public to feed or house themselves or their troops.  - Deployed Soldiers do not find large unclaimed sums of money and need your help to get that money out of the country.  Anyone who tells you one of the above-listed conditions/circumstances is true is likely posing as a Soldier and trying to steal money from you.  We would urge you to immediately cease all contact with this individual.  For more information on avoiding online scams and to report this crime, please see the following sites and articles:   This article may help clarify some of the tricks social media scammers try to use to take advantage of people: Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/61432/< Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/61432/>   CID advises vigilance against 'romance scams,' scammers impersonating Soldiers  Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/180749 < Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/180749 >   FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: Caution-http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx< Caution-http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx>   U.S. Army investigators warn public against romance scams: Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/130...< Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/130...>   DOD warns troops, families to be cybercrime smart -Caution-http://www.army.mil/article/1450...< Caution-http://www.army.mil/article/1450...>   Use caution with social networking  Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/146...< Caution-https://www.army.mil/article/146...>    Please see our frequently asked questions section under scams and legal issues. Caution-http://www.army.mil/faq/ < Caution-http://www.army.mil/faq/ > or visit Caution-http://www.cid.army.mil/ < Caution-http://www.cid.army.mil/ >.  The challenge with most scams is determining if an individual is a legitimate member of the US Army. Based on the Privacy Act of 1974, we cannot provide this information. If concerned about a scam you may contact the Better Business Bureau (if it involves a solicitation for money), or local law enforcement. If you're involved in a Facebook or dating site scam, you are free to contact us direct; (571) 305-4056.   If you have a social security number, you can find information about Soldiers online at Caution-https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/sc... < Caution-https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/sc... > . While this is a free search, it does not help you locate a retiree, but it can tell you if the Soldier is active duty or not.  If more information is needed such as current duty station or location, you can contact the Commander Soldier's Records Data Center (SRDC) by phone or mail and they will help you locate individuals on active duty only, not retirees. There is a fee of $3.50 for businesses to use this service. The check or money order must be made out to the U.S. Treasury. It is not refundable. The address is:  Commander Soldier's Records Data Center (SRDC) 8899 East 56th Street Indianapolis, IN 46249-5301 Phone: 1-866-771-6357  In addition, it is not possible to remove social networking site profiles without legitimate proof of identity theft or a scam. If you suspect fraud on this site, take a screenshot of any advances for money or impersonations and report the account on the social networking platform immediately.  Please submit all information you have on this incident to Caution-www.ic3.gov < Caution-http://www.ic3.gov > (FBI website, Internet Criminal Complaint Center), immediately stop contact with the scammer (you are potentially providing them more information which can be used to scam you), and learn how to protect yourself against these scams at Caution-http://www.ftc.gov < Caution-http://www.ftc.gov > (Federal Trade Commission's website)

Departments of education and school districts always have to make decisions about what to include in their curriculum.  There are a lot of life skills that people need that aren't taught in school.  The question is should those skills be taught in schools?I teach high school, so I'll talk about that.  The typical high school curriculum is supposed to give students a broad-based education that prepares them to be citizens in a democracy and to be able to think critically.  For a democracy to work, we need educated, discerning citizens with the ability to make good decisions based on evidence and objective thought.  In theory, people who are well informed about history, culture, science, mathematics, etc., and are capable of critical, unbiased thinking, will have the tools to participate in a democracy and make good decisions for themselves and for society at large.  In addition to that, they should be learning how to be learners, how to do effective, basic research, and collaborate with other people.  If that happens, figuring out how to do procedural tasks in real life should not provide much of a challenge.  We can't possibly teach every necessary life skill people need, but we can help students become better at knowing how to acquire the skills they need.  Should we teach them how to change a tire when they can easily consult a book or search the internet to find step by step instructions for that?  Should we teach them how to balance a check book or teach them how to think mathematically and make sense of problems so that the simple task of balancing a check book (which requires simple arithmetic and the ability to enter numbers and words in columns and rows in obvious ways) is easy for them to figure out.  If we teach them to be good at critical thinking and have some problem solving skills they will be able to apply those overarching skills to all sorts of every day tasks that shouldn't be difficult for someone with decent cognitive ability  to figure out.  It's analogous to asking why a culinary school didn't teach its students the steps and ingredients to a specific recipe.  The school taught them about more general food preparation and food science skills so that they can figure out how to make a lot of specific recipes without much trouble.  They're also able to create their own recipes.So, do we want citizens with very specific skill sets that they need to get through day to day life or do we want citizens with critical thinking, problem solving, and other overarching cognitive skills that will allow them to easily acquire ANY simple, procedural skill they may come to need at any point in their lives?

It didn’t happen to me, but to my sister and mother. This happened in the early 70’s in California and things were very different back then. My mother had always been very prim and proper, but she looked at the world a bit differently when she became a divorced mother of eight.My 16 year old sister had fallen in love with the 18 year old neighbor’s boy. They would spend the night in sleeping bags on the living room floor on weekends. I was the “proper” one and would complain to my mother about how unseemly this was. But she referred me to the 18th and 19th century New England tradition of “bundling.”According to the stories, when a suitor visited a farm girl in the winter, it was often too dark and cold for him to return home on horseback or in a wagon. If they were going to be married, the girl’s parents would often let the two young people sleep in the main room with a “bundling board” put between them in the bed or pile of blankets. It was supposed to let them continue talking and getting to know one another, but without physical contact. Apparently, it didn’t really work all that well, as a very high percentage of these brides had “early babies,” meaning they were pregnant before marriage. But these were country people and not hung up on the strict Victorian, virgin until wedding-night expectations.My mother told me that she was sure nothing untoward was going on between my sister and the neighbor boy, that my sister was a good Catholic girl. I just rolled my eyes when she wasn’t looking.One morning, my mother woke up very early and went past the living room towards the kitchen. Unfortunately, she caught the young couple in flagrante delicto! My mother thought the best thing to do was to pretend she didn’t realize what was going on, which is all well and good. However, she did this by stepping into the room and going over her grocery list and the chores she wanted my sister to do later that day. The poor guy was completely freaked out and had backed himself into the furthest corner of the room, while frantically trying to cover himself with a sock. My sister just sat there with her mouth open, blanket pulled up to hide her breasts, while Mom explained exactly what kind of peas she wanted and how my sister should ask the butcher for this cut of meat. Mom completely ignored the boyfriend cowering in the corner the entire time.My sister told me the story, and I later asked my mom about it. “Didn’t you see Gary, naked in the corner?!” With a bit of acid in her voice, she replied that yes, she had and she disapproved. She thought this experience was just a bit of pay back and they would certainly think twice about acting that way in our home again!

Years ago I worked at document management company.  There is cool software that can automate aspects of hand-written forms.  We had an airport as a customer - they scanned plenty and (as I said before) this was several years ago...On your airport customs forms, the "boxes" that you 'need' to write on - are basically invisible to the scanner - but are used because then us humans will tend to write neater and clearer which make sit easier to recognize with a computer.  Any characters with less than X% accuracy based on a recognition engine are flagged and shown as an image zoomed into the particular character so a human operator can then say "that is an "A".   This way, you can rapidly go through most forms and output it to say - an SQL database, complete with link to original image of the form you filled in.If you see "black boxes" at three corners of the document - it is likely set up for scanning (they help to identify and orient the page digitally).  If there is a unique barcode on the document somewhere I would theorize there is an even higher likelihood of it being scanned - the document is of enough value to be printed individually which costs more, which means it is likely going to be used on the capture side.   (I've noticed in the past in Bahamas and some other Caribbean islands they use these sorts of capture mechanisms, but they have far fewer people entering than the US does everyday)The real answer is: it depends.  Depending on each country and its policies and procedures.  Generally I would be surprised if they scanned and held onto the paper.   In the US, they proably file those for a set period of time then destroy them, perhaps mining them for some data about travellers. In the end,  I suspect the "paper-to-data capture" likelihood of customs forms ranges somewhere on a spectrum like this:Third world Customs Guy has paper to show he did his job, paper gets thrown out at end of shift. ------>  We keep all the papers! everything is scanned as you pass by customs and unique barcodes identify which flight/gate/area the form was handed out at, so we co-ordinate with cameras in the airport and have captured your image.  We also know exactly how much vodka you brought into the country. :)

I strongly recommend purchasing a tax program, Turbo tax, H&R block etc.These programs will ask you questions and they will fill out the forms for you.You just print it out and mail it in. (with a check, if you owe anything)I used to use an accountant but these programs found more deductions.

Yes, you do. Census helps the government/private companies know the number and the types of people in your town/state/country. When you provide information, you get better service.If you're worried about your personal information getting leaked, don't be. A census usually only requires your name and the no. of people in your house (depends on the scale of the census)You got to nothing to lose anyway. Just give the information. It'll take less than 5 minutes.

I hate when people ask a question, then rather than answer, someone jumps in and tells them they don't need to know--but today, I will be that guy, because this is serious.Why oh why do you think you can do this yourself?Two things to consider:People who get a masters degree in Accounting then go get a CPA then start doing taxes--only then do some of them start specializing in international accounting.  I've taught Accounting at the college-level, have taken tax classes beyond that, and wouldn't touch your return.Tax professionals generally either charge by the form or by the hour. Meaning you can sit and do this for 12 hours, or you can pay a CPA by the hour to do it, or you can go to an H&R Block that has flat rates and will do everything but hit Send for free.  So why spend 12 hours doing it incorrectly, destined to worry about the IRS putting you in jail, bankrupting you, or deporting you for the next decade when you can get it done professionally for $200-$300?No, just go get it done right.

Goodwill has been and will always be good stewards of your very valuable and appreciated donations. In 2014, Goodwill resold, reused or recycled more than 21,000 tons of donations. ... Sixty percent of donations make it to our store shelves, where they are sold to shoppers looking for quality items at affordable prices.

When you drop off your donations at Goodwill, you'll receive a receipt from a donation attendant. Hang on to this receipt. At the end of the year, if you itemize deductions on your taxes, you can claim a tax deduction for clothing and household items that are in good condition.

The goodwill receipts represents your receipt to the charity, so you will be able to claim all amounts donated (as long as the total amount for one receipt is not over $5,000 (which requires an appraisal).

A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as blood or organs for transplant. Charitable donations of goods or services are also called gifts in kind.

Donating — How it Works Perhaps you are moving, or maybe you just needed to make some room and simplify your life. Whatever the reason, you've done the hard part \u2014 donating your items to Goodwill is easy. Unfortunately, we DO NOT offer home pick-up of donations at this time.