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SPORTS: Two wins for Clear Lake boys hoops PAGE 21
School’s COUNTRY adult volunteer program could be at risk Serving Marine-on-St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
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BY JESSICA DE LA CRUZ EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
The State sponsored Senior Tax Exchange Program, a program that offers tax incentives for seniors to volunteer with their local schools, is under fire at the Federal level, and may soon be put to an end throughout the state according to school officials. As discussed during the November meeting of the Amery School Board, the program has recently come under fire by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). STEP allows adults 55 and older to volunteer with the school in exchange for up to $431 in property tax credit. The Amery District has had roughly 10-15 adults per year participate annually since 2008, doing activities like tutoring and volunteering in the classroom. District Financial Manager, Twilia Sikkink, explains, “The IRS’s issue with the program is that you can’t volunteer and also get paid. So if we pay [volunteers] they need to be on the payroll and collect payroll tax. That wouldn’t be so bad, except then they become an employee.” Sikkink explains there are certain discrimination issues that could come into play, in addition to other problems that would created by giving seniors a W2 and additional reportable income. In debating ways to resolve the issue,
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 33, 2222 Former FCCLA students pose with their care packages at the Amery Post Office before sending them to soldiers oversees with VOL. 131little NO. 19 www.moraminn.com $1.00 Amery connections. Left to right are Emily Klitgard, Jack Ince, Erica Elmer, Nevaya Larson and her mom, FCCLA advisor Emily Larson.
From Amery with Love
FCCLA students learn the ripple effects of good deeds and giving
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BY JESSICA DE LA CRUZ EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
ISANTI-CHISAGO
In this season of giving, Amery FCCLA students will continue a tradition that’s been a win/ win for both senders and receiv-
SEE VOLUNTEERS PAGE TWO
ers since it began. But this year, they’re learning that the impact of their work is bigger than they ever imagined. Going on seven years now, advisor Emily Larson has made sending military care packages a labor
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of love for these students. They’ve shipped 150 care packages to the Middle East in the past six years. And this week they’re wrapping up 20 more. Cookies, beef jerky, hard
R
SEE CARING PAGE TWO
Amery third grader’s birthday mission: Tell worried parents ‘it’s going to be ok’ BY JESSICA DE LA CRUZ EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
first three months of her fragile life at Children’s Hospital in St. Paul. Today, this little girl who could once fit almost entirely in the palm of someone’s hand has grown into an amazing young lady with a heart that’s bigger
THE SUN No one has ever become poor by giving. – Anne Frank
Reagan Thompson’s very life, and each year in it, has been a gift. This December 29 she’ll celebrate her ninth birthday. The Amery third grader was born an incredible three months early, weighing just over a pound. She spent the
SEE GIFTS PAGE TWO
(Right) Hardly bigger than a toy herself, Reagan Thompson sits among a pile of stuffed animals she’ll take to Children’s Hospital on the anniversary of the day she was born 3 months early, December 29.
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