Tom Wcisel: A VITA(L) Community Volunteer

Welcome to our regular weekly feature, Wonderful Wednesday. Every Wednesday, Naperville Patch will introduce you to someone doing great things in the community. Do you know someone who deserves the spotlight? Contact Local Editor Mary Ann Lopez at maryl@patch.com. 

This week we recognize a volunteer who has made his mark at Loaves & Fishes Community Pantry. Tom Wcisel was nominated by for his work with the VITA program. 

Tom Wcisel didn’t retire. As he sees it, he just made a transition to a less complicated life. 

Living a less complicated life doesn’t mean Wcisel, 63, isn’t busy. He keeps setting goals that need to be achieved. 

Five years ago, when he began contemplating life after work and this new, less complicated way of living, he began thinking how he might use the skills he developed while working for 30 years at McDonald’s.

“I wanted to use my tax skills and accounting background to help people in the community,” he said.

A certified public accountant with tax experience, he found a way to help by coordinating a VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) site in Mount Prospect. Then, last year he approached Loaves & Fishes Executive Director and CEO Charles McLimans about creating a VITA program for the pantry’s clients.

The VITA program has volunteers who help prepare tax returns for individuals with income under $50,000 per year.

He chose to contact Loaves & Fishes because of its mission to lift people up and empower them to live better lives, Wcisel said. He thought the program fit with the pantry’s goal of being a resource center that offers its clients a variety of services, from literacy to financial literacy programs.

With the pantry’s support, Wcisel started the program at Loaves & Fishes and helped recruit the roughly 12 volunteers who prepared tax returns for clients. He also helped market the program to those who needed the services most. The IRS also listed the program on its website.

In its first year, the program helped more than 157 taxpayers, as Wcisel said, “to accurately file tax returns in a timely manner.”

Those accurately filed returns meant about $198,000 in refunds to the clients that were served, according to Loaves & Fishes.

The program was so successful last tax season when it was offered on Friday and Saturday though April, that next year it will be expanded to Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Wcisel said. 

Wcisel completed a few of the returns for clients, but his main responsibility was to give the returns a final review before they were e-filed, he said.

“Hopefully we are eliminating a discomfort for people,” he said about the service the VITA program offers.

Most of the returns aren’t too tricky and the IRS provides tax preparation software to complete the returns. Most clients are eligible for some type of credit, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit. All of the volunteers go through an IRS certification process and must take a test on tax law as it applies to individuals.

“It worked out real good,” he said of the program’s first year. “We weren’t overwhelmed.”

The tax preparers were dedicated but not overworked. The clients were served but never rushed out. The preparers were able to talk to their clients and make them feel good about their tax filing, Wcisel said.

“It makes me feel good that their money is coming to them in a timely manner,” he said. 

It's lucky for the folks at Loaves & Fishes that Wcisel had a change of heart on his career choice. As a student at Purdue University, Wcisel originally planned to become an engineer. 

“It just didn’t feel right,” he said. “Accounting and working with numbers I was comfortable with, I enjoyed it and it stimulated me.”

He earned an industrial management degree from Purdue and went back for an accounting degree at Indiana University in South Bend, he said.

Before working at McDonald’s, he worked at Price Waterhouse and International Harvester.

His experience at McDonald’s left a big impression, he said.

“When I was at McDonald’s the strongest attribute of that corporation is people pulled together to get a job done,” he said. “The teamwork and can do attitude probably impressed me the most.”

Wcisel brought that attitude to helping at Loaves & Fishes, where it was also necessary to come together as a team to achieve a goal, he said. 

Married for 41 years to wife Karren, he said his volunteer work keeps him busy and out of the house—and his wife’s hair.

“I set daily goals and weekly goals and stay on track to meet those goals,” he said. “You have those goals for work-life and need them in daily life.”

Even though tax season is over, Wcisel still does tax work for those who need it at Loaves & Fishes, he said. In the off-season, it is by appointment.

The VITA program was so successful that the IRS honored Loaves & Fishes and Wcisel for the program’s performance. Wcisel said it was a team effort and he was uncomfortable being singled out.

“When you have a good team working with you, it should be a team award,” he said.

And, he feels that way about his work at Loaves & Fishes in general. He said there are so many great volunteers at the pantry and he is still in his “trial” year.

Along with his work at the food pantry, he is also volunteering through the College of DuPage’s People Educating People program to help prepare people for the GED. And, he is always looking for other ways to spend his time.

In the meantime, the VITA program is already seeking volunteers and will be holding two orientations for interested people. Wcisel said volunteers may not know how talented they are, but through their work with the program they will learn. Citing the mission statement, he said, “If you give us your time, we will develop your talent for an experience you will treasure.”

If you are interested in learning more about volunteering with the VITA program at Loaves & Fishes, two orientation meetings will be held. The first will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. Nov. 12 and another will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15. The VITA program will be open for tax return preparation from late January through April 14.