Tax site opens January 20th

As tax season approaches, Just Harvest is once again opening our doors with our FREE tax preparation site on the Southside. To be eligible, a single person must earn less than $20,000, and families must earn less than $40,000. We will e-file your tax return so you can get your refund in as little as nine days. You must have an appointment--no walk ins will be accepted. To schedule an appointment, call: (412)431-8964 after you have received all of your W-2s.

Join us at City Council

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 10 am--Four citywide anti-hunger organizations will be speaking at the City Council Public Hearing next Monday, Dec. 1 at 10am asking City Council to fund $434,800 for the Hunger Fund. Just Harvest initiated this budget item in the 80's when we decided to ask Council to take some responsibility to counter hunger.

Joining Just Harvest, the other organizations asking for funding for increasing hunger are: Greater Pgh. Community Food Bank, Pgh. Community Services, Inc. and Hunger Services at the Urban League. Just Harvest uses these funds to reduce hunger by helping working people get tax credits, by recruiting new sites for Summer Food programs and by helping people with Welfare problems.

The public is invited to speak in support of this request. Share your personal experience; tell the City Council to expand the Pittsburgh Hunger Fund, to support funding for anti-hunger organizations, to prioritize safety net issues in the 2009 City Budget. Tens of thousands can't afford to put food on the table. To sign up to speak, call the City Clerk's Office at (412) 255-2138. Each speaker gets three minutes to testify. Join us at the City County Building at 414 Grant St. on the 5th floor next Monday to protect Pittsburgh's safety net.

Unique gifts for a great cause

On Saturday December 6th, Pittsburgh Cares is sponsoring their Nonprofit Marketplace at Chatham University. Each vendor at this one day "shopping mall" of handmade and unique gifts chooses a nonprofit beneficiary to receive a portion of their sales. A part of the proceeds from Dawn Glassworks will benefit Just Harvest. Dawn Wallhausen, our former Administrative Assistant, chose Just Harvest as the beneficiary for the nonprofit share of her sales of her handmade glass-bead jewelry. Come out and support Pittsburgh Cares, Dawn Glassworks and Just Harvest for this family-friendly shopping event with unique gifts for a great cause!

A Blue Collar Black Tie Affair

In recognition of the Peoples' Pittsburgh 250th, join Senator Jim Ferlo and a cast of notable Pittsburgh doers and givers for a lively evening of stories, images and songs from The Point of Pittsburgh book and CD. Dress up your blue collar or dress down your black tie, but wear your pride in Pittsburgh for all to see!

In the spirit of giving embodied by Johnny Appleseed and other historical Pittsburgh heroes, bring a bag of non-perishable food items. Event benefits Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank and Just Harvest.

$35 ticket buys admission, plus book, CD & poster.

Just Vote Guide published

Just Harvest's 2008 General Election Voters Guide is hot off the press and packed with important information about the upcoming election. We included information about voting for newly registered voters, answers to frequently asked questions about voting and an On the issues section which includes the Presidential candidates views on crucial issues such as Hunger and Food Assistance, Poverty, Tax Credits for Low-Income People and Health Care. We also compiled candidate surveys for US Congress, Allegheny County and State legislative races. To download a pdf version of our 2008 General Election Voters Guide, click here.

Kudos to Just Harvest intern Lou Hanson for the candidate research for this publication.

Just Vote

October 6th marks the deadline to submit voter registration forms, and Just Harvest's Just Vote Campaign registered over 300 new voters over the past few months. On Friday, September 26th, Just Harvest joined the Pennsylvania League of Young Voters, Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania, and other organizations at the Allegheny County Jail to register inmates eligible to vote. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "The 2-hour drive signed up 456 voters and took in 700 absentee ballot requests." To read the front page coverage of the event from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, click here.

Just Harvest will release a non-partisan voter guide to over 6,000 households mid-October. If you are interested in receiving this informational guide about both local and presidential candidate's positions on important hunger and poverty-related issues, please e-mail us at : info@justharvest.org.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: We need volunteers for phone banking during the month of October! If you are interested in informing and mobilizing registered voters to get out there and VOTE, then call us at : 412 . 431 . 8960.

Food Stamp Program Update

Starting October 1, 2008, the Food Stamp Program is getting better--especially for working families! Improvements include an increase in income guidelines, child care cost deductions, and no limit on resources.

NEW INCOME GUIDELINES (as of October 1, 2008)
_Household Size_______ Monthly income limit (gross)_

______1________________________$1,127____________
______2_______________________ $1,517 ____________
______3_______________________ $1,907 ____________ ______4_______________________ $2,297____________
______5_______________________ $2,687____________

By eliminating the limit on resources, you may now qualify for food stamps even if you have money in the bank or other property.

And now the Food Stamp Program will deduct all of your child care costs from your income, giving families with high child care costs more food stamps.

If you've applied for food stamps before, and have been denied because of these reasons, you may be eligible now. Call Eugenia at Just Harvest : 412 . 431 . 8963 to apply over the phone.