I'm baaaaack!

A little R&R can do a lot of good. :)

I'm back today, my first day back in the office since Friday. My day consisted of healthy servings from the VISTA's 4 basic food groups: the computer, the phone, the car, and the copier.

2.5 hours of Computer: Link and Learn
Next week the Community Trainer VISTAs will travel to Columbus to receive training on 2008 taxes, starting the certification process for doing OBB tax trainings. But before we go, we're all supposed to go onto the IRS website and do the "Link and Learn" portal. Now, this sounds simple enough, but let me tell you--this thing is intense. As the name indicates, there are a dozen or so links on various tax topics, with each link consisting of upwards of hundreds of pages of information. And the material certainly is complex with tons of terms, numbers, and rules to keep straight. Getting through all of this information can take days--weeks, really--and even if I get through it all, there is no way I'll ever retain all of this intricate information.

But getting through all of the links isn't all that necessary to become a good OBB tax trainer and counselor. Sure, the information is valuable, and I've already learned quite a bit about the various tax forms and exemptions out there through the links. But I don't have to know everything about taxes to be successful this tax season. That's because the program's software was designed to serve as the expert. Just like with Benefits, the OBB does all the work for us, with the counselor simply facilitating the process. And for that, I am extremely grateful! Still, even by using the OBB this winter, I will undoubtedly learn more about taxes than I ever wanted to know.

1.25 hours of Phone: "Hi, this is Kaitlyn with the Ohio Benefit Bank..."
A good portion of the day was spent on the phone, as well. Often times, a site will express interest in using the OBB, but somehow get delayed in starting the training process. So to help move these sites along, we are intensifying our follow-up calls from one call every week or so, to one call every two days until the site either enrolls in a training or tells us to stop calling. With this new measure, I spent a significant chunk of time calling dozens of sites, asking for people whose names I wasn't sure how to pronounce, reminding them of what the OBB even is, and trying to prod them along in the process. Some sites had expressed interest in the OBB over 6 months ago but still had not followed through on getting trained! So at the risk of morphing into a telemarketer, we're stepping up our calls and [gently] pushing people along in the process to become an OBB site.

2.75 hours of Car: Warren County Interagency Council
In the middle of the day, Meredith and I put everything on hold to drive to Lebanon for the monthly interagency meeting for Warren County agencies. One of our OBB sites, Warren Co. Community Services, was being featured for the first half of the meeting, which gave the OBB a little freebie promo! The second half of the meeting was spent catching up on what's new with the other area agencies, and before we knew it, we were back on the road to Shared Harvest.

1.5 hours of Copier: "Okay, now let's turn to page 3 of the PowerPoint presentation..."
The last portion of the day was spent putting together packets for a Benefits training I'm doing tomorrow in Dayton. All 9 counselors registered for the training are from the same organization, including one very familiar counselor--Rebecca, my friend Lisa's mom! I'm really looking forward to this training, and if I had a little more expendable income I'd buy donuts or something for the occasion. Instead, I'll come bearing training manuals, marketing, and materials.

All in all, a pretty typical day in the life of a VISTA. It's amazing how fast the day flies by when grazing on each of our major "food" groups!