Meet the Challenge!
Help the unsheltered receive their stimulus payments.
You can make a difference in the lives of people who are struggling. When you have next to nothing, this money can change lives.
How-to Steps
1: Volunteers will need computers and a connection to the internet. Make your phone a hot spot, then link your computer to your phone.
2: Secure mailing addresses for the homeless in your area. Ask men's shelters or women's shelters to agree to receive and keep their mail safe and locked up until they're picked up. Shelters usually have a system to identify those they serve. Unfortunately, it is highly likely that most of the homeless individuals you help have lost their IDs, so organizations that agree to hold their mail must know how to identify them.
3: Have each person fill out a form stating their name, address, and email. Please do not ask them to write down their Social Security number for privacy protection. They can verbally give it to you when required.
4: If they do not fill in an address in the form, ask them if they want to use an address of an organization you have secured. (Make sure you get that approval agreement in writing from the head of the organization.) Do not use your address.
5: If they leave the email portion blank on the form, then you will need to spend about 20 minutes signing them up with a Gmail account, for example. This process requires access to getting a text, so expect to use your phone unless they have their own.
6: Make sure to write down on the back all the information you will be using to create accounts and their passwords: (a) an email account, (b) a tax account, (c) IRS PIN digits.
You will need to file 2020 taxes to receive stimulus payments.
7: Go to https://www.irs.gov/https: Then select: File your Taxes for free. Then select: Choose an IRS free file offer. Then select Brouse all offers. Then select: For example https://www.freetaxusa.com
8: Create an account with a user ID and password. Please ask your client what they want to use. Make sure you write everything down clearly.
9: Their email will need to be verified. You will log into their new email account to finish filing their taxes.
10: A phone number is not required to complete the filing. The unsheltered tend to lose their phones often. The same numbers cannot be kept if lost phones are replaced.
11: Choose the debit card option instead of a check. Most unsheltered people do not have IDs or bank accounts, so cashing a check would be challenging.
12: They must be cautious with the debit card; if it is lost or stolen, it will not be replaced.
