April 8th and 12th

Monday, April 8th I finalized the pieces for the awards that will be given out to the VITA volunteers. Every VITA volunteer will be recognized for their dedication to helping the community prepare their taxes.
Friday I worked on the final revisions for the Day of Caring save the date. The save the date will be in postcard form and digital.

Week 12

Monday I worked at the Pensacola State College's Pensacola Campus VITA site. I gathered success stories from people that were getting their taxes done that day.
On Friday I typed and put together the success stories. I also worked on printing out and putting together the pieces that will be matted and framed for the VITA volunteer awards.

Below is the myfreetaxes.com ad that I designed and then it was translated by someone within company.

Last week in March

On Monday, I spent the entire time on a save the date graphic for United Way's day of caring. On Friday I spent my time at the Pensacola State College VITA site. At that site, I interviewed people who were getting their taxes done and the volunteers that were helping them. I interviewed a lot of happy residents that were pleased with the service that the VITA program is bringing to our community. I will take what I have gathered from my time at the site and write a few short success stories.

Spring Break/ Week 10

I spent Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break working on VITA Materials for United Way.
On Monday the 18th, I worked on contacting local colleges about VITA and myfreetaxes.com
On Friday the 22nd, I worked on making a flyer for myfreetaxes.com and on another myfreetaxes.com flyer that will be translated into Spanish.

It's March!

This year seems to be going by very fast... It's March already!?
On Monday, I worked on the ad design for myfreetaxes.com. This ad will be in the La Costina publication. The ad will be translated and then sent back to me for revisions with the new wording. We hope that by creating this ad, the latino population in our area will be better informed on this great service. Myfreetaxes.com/unitedwayescarosa has a free translation service 24/7 that they will be able to take advantage of. Along with the online service, two of the VITA sites have spanish-speaking individuals on their volunteer staff.
This is the ad before it will be translated into spanish:

Wednesday, Gretchen and I brainstormed campaign ideas for myfreetaxes.com/unitedwayescarosa. Unfortunately, the numbers are down on the use of the myfreetaxes site. This is very important because if we do not have a certain number of people that utilize the myfreetaxes site, a substanstial amount of funding will be lost next year. Gretchen and I are currently working on contacting colleges in our area to promote myfreetaxes through a mass email to their students, or possibly implementing a free tax seminar on their campus.
We are still working other possible ideas and it will be interesting to see how all of this will come together at the close of tax season on April 15th.
I also created a rack card on Wednedsay that is specifically for myfreetaxes.com/unitedwayescarosa.

This is the rackcard:

Last week in February

This is the last week in February! On Monday I worked on a template for the monthly reports for the 2-1-1 department. The department was having trouble branding their reports so below is what I made them. They can use this template for each new report by simply changing the date at the top and updating the numbers in the tables.

On Friday I worked on brainstorming for Myfreetaxes.com. United Way is working on getting more people in our area involved in completing their taxes online. I researched possible locations to have a "Learn to do your taxes" event and started on the design for a rack card that specifically promotes myfreetaxes.com/unitedwayescarosa.

This week at United Way...

This week at United Way I sent out the mass email that I have been working on for the past few weeks. I worked on putting together an email list of the churches in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties.
 On Friday I worked on designing two posters for VITA that will be displayed at UWF, directing people to where they can get their taxes done at the University Commons.

This is one of the posters that I made:

UWF Make a DIfference Day Week

Monday, February 11th was UWF's Make a Difference Day. This is where non-profit companies in the area come to promote their available volunteer positions and job openings. Last week I made the display board for the event. On Monday, I worked on making the quarterly data and statistics report. I also worked on the final revisions for a letter that will be sent out via email to all the area businesses to promote VITA.

This is a picture from UWF's Make a Difference Day. That's Gretchen talking to a UWF student about volunteer opportunities at United Way. In the background is the display board I created.

On Friday, we had a luncheon/team meeting. I stayed late on Friday to work on some flyers that will be handed out next week for the VITA program. I also finished putting together the information for the quarterly report.

United Way Internship

On Monday, I worked on revising the letter that will be sent out to large companies in our area encouraging them to spread the word to their employees about VITA.
This is the check mailer and flyer that I created and that will be attached to the email:

 

On Friday, I stayed late to work on materials that will be used at UWF's Make a Difference Day Volunteer Fair on Monday. I worked on a tri-fold board that will have pictures and information about United Way and their volunteer program, along with the available jobs at United Way.

This is one of the posters that I made for the Make a Difference Day project.

Last week in January

Monday January 28^th at United Way, I worked on a check mailer for companies in Escambia and Santa Rosa County. This mailer will be inserted in employee’s checks so they will be informed and hopefully take advantage of the VITA program.  Also on Monday I worked on updating the digital billboard for Pensacola State College because the first one that I made was not approved by PSC.

On Friday, I continued to work on the check mailer design and the e-mail that will be sent out to the employers asking them to use the check mailers. I am still working on the digital billboard and will hopefully have that finished by Monday!
I have learned a lot about InDesign since working at United Way. These assignments have given me a lot of more material for my portfolio and since I started my internship here I am beginning to realize that this is my favorite thing about this internship. I hope to continue to be able to work in InDesign to learn more about designing marketing materials.

This is the Pledge Card I have been working on, it will be used at United Way's upcoming Passport to Unite event.

 

This is a digital billboard that will be displayed at Pensacola State College's Pensacola Campus.

VITA Opens to the Public!

I spent Wednesday at United Way fixing typos and adding updates to the marketing materials I created the previous week. I realized how quickly things can change, while I was working on a flyer of dates and times for United Way's VITA site openings, I received a call with changes for the dates and times. I was just about to print the 300 flyers before I received the call.

Thursday, January 24th was the EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) Kick-Off Event at the Pensacola Sate College Pensacola Campus VITA site. Congressman Jeff Miller and others were among the attendants.

On Friday I visited the Pensacola Sate College Pensacola Campus VITA office. I was able to interview a woman and her husband who have been volunteering with United Way for the past three years. They are both retired long time Pensacola residents and love helping with the VITA program every year. At that site I also interviewed a father and his daughter that are impacted every year by using the VITA Free Tax assistance. "Thank goodness they have this(VITA), that way you get everything back you deserve," said Timothy Bradley, a Pensacola resident who takes advantage of the free tax service every year.
I look forward to next week working with VITA!

First Weeks at United Way

This is the opening week for VITA! The past few weeks I have been working on promotional materials for the VITA program. VITA is United Way's free tax service. This year, VITA is adding an online component to their services. Myfreetaxes.com/unitedwayescrosa is a free online tax service for anyone in the Escambia and Santa Rosa county areas that make a combined household income of $57,000 or less.
So far in my internship I have created a press release for the VITA opening dates and location times. I designed a digital sign that will be displayed at Pensacola State College Pensacola Campus. I have also helped create a rack card that will be displayed at the post offices in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. Over the next few weeks I should be out at the VITA sites collecting information to write stories for United Way about the people that VITA is impacting.