By ANN PIERCEALL

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- The Retired and Senior Volunteer program in Hannibal needs volunteers for two programs.

The first, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, offers free tax help to low- to moderate-income people with incomes of $40,000 or less who cannot prepare their own tax returns. The second will help soon-to-be released prison inmates learn new skills.

RSVP Director Stacey Nicholas said VITA volunteers can help seniors who must file tax returns to benefit from stimulus checks and young families that often think they don't make enough money to file taxes, meaning they miss an opportunity for earned income tax credits.

"Our goal is to get these volunteers in place, to provide enough volunteers so they get benefits that are already out there for them. It's a way for young families and older adults to keep money in their pockets," Nicholas said.

A VITA training session is planned for Dec. 3. Nicholas said she needs as many VITA volunteers as she can get.

The program to help soon-to-be released inmates is being staged at the Northeast Missouri Correctional Center in Bowling Green. Volunteers will work with inmates who are six to eight months from release by teaching them life skills.

Nicholas said as many as 30 to 40 inmates are released each month.

"Some of them have been in there a long time and they don't have the skills" needed to make it outside prison, she said.

Life skills training will include learning how to fill out job applications, interview techniques, and tips on parenting and budgeting.

"These are things most middle class Americans take for granted. But if you've spent lot of time in a regulated system where that's taken care of for you, if you don't have some of those skills, you might reoffend," Nicholas said.

"We don't want people going back to prison. We want people to become productive members of society."

Volunteers will receive one-day training on volunteering in the corrections department and two-day training on the life skills course curriculum. Both training sessions are free. Volunteers are asked to offer two hours a week for the 16-week course taught to inmates.

For more information about either program, contact Nicholas at (573) 221-3892, ext. 247 or by e-mail at rsvp@douglassonline.org. RSVP in Hannibal is among the services provided by Douglass Community Services.

-- apierceall@whig.com/(573) 221-5879