Volunteer Income Tax Assistance provided 346 tax returns at no cost

The United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties and Greenhouse Ministries recently reported that its partnership to provide VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) sites produced 346 total returns with a total refund amount of $492,000.

The VITA partnership provided free tax filing services to qualifying local residents (annual household incomes of $50,000 or less) that assisted those individuals in claiming their tax refund dollars. Sites were available in both Rutherford County and Cannon County.

While Greenhouse Ministries provided financial education services to those receiving VITA services, local banks also partnered with the program to offer assistance with financial management and account services. Participating banks included SunTrust Bank, Regions Bank, F&M Bank, Wilson Bank & Trust, FirstBank, MidSouth Bank and First Tennessee Bank.

The 34 volunteers that participated in the program underwent an intense training process and served in capacities such as tax preparation, screening and greeting. Those volunteers were: Douglas Lukonen, Gia Cawthorn, Emily Ziadeh, Nathan Robertson, Tom Fix, Beverly Hancock, Ryan Kieffer, Annetta McGee, Christine Vanderweedt, Carolyn Willis, Teresa Erwin, Tyson Kimbrel, Scott Miller, Cindy Rhea, Gary Richmond, Jane Smith, Jana Lowe, Gloria Sanders, Gary Hunter, Betty Cox, Jan “Niki” Delk, Dawn DuBois, Sharif Ansari, Vicki Allen, Kristi Brockelsby, Szu Brown, Zehua “Casey” Li, Daniel Clanton, Christine Estes, Kirk Garrett, Christopher Hanvy, Jonathan Habart, Margarita Haag and Willie Gunter, Jr.

"I was honored to be a part of such a successful VITA site this year," said Beth Gill, Tax Consultant with the Internal Revenue Service. "Everyone involved played an incredible role in the success of this site and because of that success, Greenhouse Ministries received President Obama’s Martin Luther King Drum Major Award for Community Service."

The Drum Major Award honors outstanding contributions to community and society in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King's teachings and philosophy of love and nonviolence.

"We hope that our results reflect a dedication to Middle Tennessee's residents," commented Nathan Butturini, Site Coordinator for the VITA program.

The VITA program is expected to resume in January 2013. For more information, please visit www.greenhousemin.org or www.uwrutherford.org.

Funding to non-profits to be determined by 80 volunteers.

The United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties started its allocations process today, beginning a series of five all-day sessions in which partner agencies will make presentations to the allocations panels who will recommend funding amounts for each agency to United Way's Board of Directors.

Each allocations panel is composed of volunteer business and community leaders who devote their time to ensuring that United Way's allocations process ensures a high degree of community impact through agency accountability standards.

Each year, every partner agency presents its funding request to the appropriate allocations panel. The allocations panel reviews the agency's programs and funding requests as well as visits the agency on site at their facility. Each panel is responsible for mentoring and advocating for several agencies throughout the year. The panels represent United Way's impact areas: education (two panels), income, health, and rebuilding lives.

The panels consider how well the agency is managed, how justified its proposed budget is and the extent to which its services address high priority community issues. The panel also considers the outcomes history that the agency has produced, meaning the measurement of success for a particular desired change or achievement through the services it provides.

The panels will forward their recommendations for funding amounts to the United Way Board of Directors. If the United Way Board of Directors has no reservations, it approves the recommendations. The Board of Directors will meet on June 14 at 12:00 p.m. and review the recommendations made by the panel allocations panels. A press conference will be held at 1:30 p.m. that same day to announce the final funding amounts allocated to each partner agency. The press conference will be open to the public.

For more information or to view a listing of partner agencies, please visit www.uwrutherford.org or contact United Way at (615) 893-7303.

Murfreesboro, TN - Special Kids recently recognized its top investors for 2011 during the Dick Kleinau Investor Appreciation Dinner held at Belle Aire Baptist Church on February 21.  The dinner was an effort to thank investors who gave $1,000 or more in the previous year as well as volunteers who went above and beyond in the efforts to further the mission of Special Kids.

The organization presented framed artwork created by children receiving services at Special Kids to the top grant, business, civic group, church, individual, and volunteer investors.  Baptist Healing Trust, which funds the organization’s summer day camp was the top grant partner, providing $27,250 in funding, while Thomas Nelson, who pledged $25,000 a year for three years, was the top business partner.  Charity Circle, which gave $23,000 in funding to Special Kids, was the top civic group and Family Worship Center, the top church partner, chose to support the Special Kids through a $13,000 special investment from its congregation.  Eddie Davis, owner of Gas World and Davis Construction, was once again recognized as the top individual investor giving $10,000 to Special Kids.  Felicia Shirley was recognized as the top volunteer having dedicated countless hours to the organization as a committee member and Team Athletes for Special Kids member.

The dinner is named after the late Dick Kleinau who co-founded Special Kids with his daughter Carrie Goodwin.  Kleinau invested faithfully, financially, and voluntarily to ensure the doors of Special Kids would be open to those in need.  Unfortunately, Kleinau passed away two weeks before the facility officially opened in 1998, but because of his vision and faith to follow Jesus Christ in caring for children with special needs, more than 2,200 children from middle Tennessee have been served at Special Kids.  Special Kids is able to continue its mission through individuals and organizations who follow Kleinau’s example by investing faithfully, financially, and voluntarily.

Special Kids is a Christian, nonprofit organization located in Murfreesboro, TN, that provides therapeutic rehabilitation and professional nursing services to children with special needs. Since 1998, Special Kids has served over 2,200 families from 11 counties in middle Tennessee. For more information on Special Kids, please visit specialkidstn.com or call 615.893.4892.

Like Us On Facebook

Follow Us On Twitter

Follow Us On Pinterest

MTSU’s third annual Department of Accounting Continuing Professional Education Day will be held Thursday, Dec. 8, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. in the Business and Aerospace Building’s State Farm Lecture Hall.

Seminars during the conference include presentations on accounting and financial reporting, auditing, taxation and ethics presented by Department of Accounting faculty. Participants can earn up to eight hours of CPE credit. The cost is $150, which includes all seminars, materials and lunch.

The sessions include:

• “Financial Accounting Standards Board Update” by MTSU accounting professor Dr. Paula Thomas;
• “Tennessee Ethics” from Mark Crocker, executive director of the Tennessee Board of Accountancy in Nashville;
• “How ‘Legal Thinking’ Can Aid the Auditor” by Dr. Sandy Benson, an assistant professor of business law;
• “Tax Update and Tax Planning” from Dr. Tim Koski, accounting professor;
• “General Ethics” by Associate Professor Stan Clark of MTSU’s Department of Accounting;
• “Government Accounting Standards Board Update” from Dr. G. Robert “Smitty” Smith Jr., interim accounting department chair;
• “International Financial Reporting Standards” by Dr. Jeannie Harrington, an associate professor of accounting;
• “Audit Update” from Bill Mooningham, a retired partner of Ernst & Young as well as an MTSU alumnus and accounting instructor;
• “Leveraging Technology in the Modern Accounting Firm” by Eric Clements of Randall Matlock & Associates P.C. in Murfreesboro; and
• “Detecting Deception” from Daniel Porter, an investigative auditor for the State Audit Division of the Tennessee Department of Audit in Nashville.

To register or get more information, visit the Department of Accounting website at www.mtsu.edu/accounting or call 615-898-5306.

The 21st annual Department of Accounting Alumni CPE Day at MTSU will be held on Thursday, April 26, 2012.

— Randy Weiler ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance will bring dollars to local residents.

The United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties has announced a partnership with Greenhouse Ministries to provide VITA sites in Rutherford County beginning in January 2012. VITA, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, is a free service and will aide qualifying local residents (annual household incomes of $50,000 or less) in claiming their tax refund dollars.

Volunteers are needed throughout January to April to assist with the sites, which will vary from Greenhouse Ministries during the week to mobile sites on Saturdays. Previous experience with tax preparation is preferred but not required. Interested volunteers should attend one of the two informational sessions to be held on November 7th and 9th at 6:30 PM at Greenhouse Ministries located at 309 South Spring Street in Murfreesboro. Volunteers should be available a minimum of 15 hours during tax season, and volunteer registration is available at http://uwrutherford.org/Volunteer/VITAVolunteers.aspx.

Volunteer training will be conducted on December 5th and 7th from 5 PM - 9 PM and volunteers should attend both sessions.

For additional questions, please contact Greenhouse Ministries at (615) 494-0499 or United Way at (615) 893-7303.

Dempsey Vantrease & Follis PLLC, a certified public accounting and business consulting firm, is kicking off a new website and blog to help businesses find answers to accounting, bookkeeping and tax questions. Askdvf.com goes live in August and will focus on answering the questions most frequently asked by clients and friends.  An easy to use question and answer format will provide business and individuals with feedback to their inquiries.

Over the last three decades, Dempsey Vantrease & Follis PLLC (DVF) has grown into a regionally recognized firm known for their experience and resources in providing the highest level of accounting, consulting and business services.  Askdvf.com allows the firm to help area businesses in a new on-line knowledge sharing format.  The addition of Askdvf.com adds to the existing web-based resources provided by DVF including monthly newsletters, e-news timely articles, a tax form library, client tax organizers and more.

For additional information, visit us at www.askdvf.com or www.dvf-pllc.com.

DVF provides a full range of services including auditing, compilations and reviews, individual and business tax preparation, fiduciary and estate tax preparation, payroll processing, and bookkeeping.  With offices in Murfreesboro and Lebanon, DVF has been named in the top 15 CPA firms by size in Middle Tennessee over the last five years by the Nashville Business Journal.

Murfreesboro, TN - Tim Tipps has been named Financial Services Officer for Farm Credit Services (FCS) of Mid-America in Murfreesboro, TN. Tipps will service loans and financially related services for a $17 billion financial lending cooperative serving over 85,000 farmer-producers, agribusinesses and rural residents throughout Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. Tipps will service Rutherford and Cannon Counties, after a brief stint working for Farm Credit Services in the McMinnville, Tennessee area.

Tipps joins FCS as a seasoned professional owning and operating Appraisal Source of Tennessee for the past thirteen years. Prior to becoming an appraiser, Tipps served over 16 years in the banking industry. Tipps also owns and farms The Farm at Hollow Springs in Cannon County.

Tipps is a member of the Tennessee Agritourism Association, Blue Raider Athletic Association, Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Commission, a board member of Rutherford County CrimeStoppers, and is a past state President, Colonel and Life Member of the Tennessee Jaycees. Moreover, Tim is a member of the Rutherford County Farm Bureau, associate member of the Appraisal Institute, and charter member of the Tennessee Appraiser Coalition. In addition to the foregoing, Tipps is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, and attended the University of Tennessee, where he served as an athletic trainer for the Volunteer athletic programs. Tim is also a graduate of the Southeastern School of Banking and Southeastern School of Commercial Lending.

“Tim possesses a great deal of knowledge, skill and resources that will complement our Murfreesboro office,” says Mark Wilson, Regional Vice President. “Furthermore, Tim’s long time involvement in the Murfreesboro community gives him an added advantage. I know our current customers and new clients will enjoy working with Tim.”

Farm Credit Services of Mid-America makes loans for farm and rural living purposes, including real estate, operating, equipment, and housing and related services such as leasing and insurance. To reach our office, please call 615.893.7631 or visit our website at www.e-farmcredit.com.

Three men accused of stealing $8,500 tracks used with a bulldozer were caught in the act Jan. 13, at a West Jefferson Pike construction site, a Rutherford County sheriff’s deputy reported Thursday.

Deputy Matt Clagg was patrolling about 3 p.m. when he saw three men loading the bulldozer tracks into a truck at the construction site. Clagg talked to the three men.

Suspect Christopher Jennings told Clagg the men were scrap metal hunting when they saw the tracks and examined the property. Jennings reported the owner named “David” gave them permission both in person and by telephone to take the property.

“When I asked Mr. Jennings to get the number that he called off of his phone, he could not find it,” Clagg reported.

The deputy obtained the property owner’s number from the site and dispatchers contacted owner Wayne Shook who told the deputy no one had permission to take his property.

Clagg charged Jennings, 32, and companions Alan W. Jahns, 30, and Bobby L. Campbell, 27, all of La Vergne, with theft of property. They were booked into Rutherford County Adult Detention Center. Hearings on the charges are set April 17 in General Sessions Court.

Murfreesboro, TN - FirstBank is pleased to announce the addition of Jennifer Starrett. Jennifer will be serving the Murfreesboro area as an Investment Representative based out of FirstBank's Murfreesboro Main office. Jennifer brings over 6 years of financial planning experience to FirstBank and most recently was employed by Ameriprise Financial Services.  She looks forward to serving you.  "Jennifer's financial planning experience will bring our Murfreesboro area FirstBank customers valuable insight into their own future security in these uncertain times", said Bill Reid SVP Investment Division Manager.

About FirstBank

FirstBank is Tennessee's largest independently owned and operated bank, with locations across the state. The bank, headquartered in Lexington, Tenn., services every major metropolitan market in the state and, with nearly $2 billion in total assets, has the resources to provide a comprehensive variety of financial services and products.