Members of the public are invited to attend the Thursday, March 7^th meeting of the Board of Directors of San Francisco’s LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. This meeting will be a virtual meeting held via Zoom and runs from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm Pacific.
 
30 minutes will be reserved for public comment, and members of the public will have up to three minutes to comment. If you would like to reserve a slot to speak, please complete the LightHouse Public Comment and RSVP Sign Up form. Please submit your comments as far in advance as possible. Comments must be received before noon Pacific on Wednesday, March 6^th to be included in  the agenda.

If you would like to attend the virtual meeting, please fill LightHouse Public Comment and RSVP Sign Up form. Whether you plan to have a public comment or not, you will need to fill out this form to get the Zoom info.  Zoom information will be emailed to you closer to the date of the board meeting.

LightHouse is honored to once again be the beneficiary of the annual concert hosted by our dear friends and longtime Enchanted Hills Camp Alumni, the Gill Family. This year’s concert theme is A Tribute to Tony Bennett. Treat yourself to a night of incredible music performed by Alex Perez, Marie Finch, and Steve Gill with a featured performance by Anne Gill. Please see the event details and a message from the Gill Family below.
 
What: EHC Benefit Concert: A Tribute to Tony Bennett
When: Saturday, February 24, 7:30 pm
Where: Martin Family Hall, 50 Valparaiso Ave., Atherton, 94027
Cost: $20 Suggested Donation, all proceeds will go to Enchanted Hills Camp
 
Please Note: Seating is on a first come, first seated basis. Those planning to attend should contact Nancy Gill at 650-948-4648 or gillnancyg@gmail.com, please indicate the number of guests attending and contact information.
 
Message from Steve and Nancy Gill
 
In 1997, shortly after our daughter Anne graduated from Los Altos High School, she was in a near-fatal car accident that left her blind and brain injured. When she came home in the spring of 1998, we were frustrated to discover that few resources are designed to help people like our daughter who have multiple disabilities. Therefore, we were delighted to find out that the LightHouse for the Blind offers a session at its Enchanted Hills Camp (EHC) for visually impaired adults who have other disabilities as well.
 
Anne, like other participants, enjoys spending five days in the Napa Hills participating in activities like horseback riding, swimming, and hiking with a remarkable, inspiring staff.
 
Our gratitude for the camp’s existence, our appreciation for the incredible patience and compassion of the staff (many of whom are visually impaired), and our desire to support the special needs session inspired Steve, veteran Bay Area actor/singer and the founder of Menlo School’s Fine Arts Program, to organize the first benefit concert for the LightHouse in 1999.
 
Since that first year, the benefit concerts have raised over $150,000. LightHouse has used the proceeds from these concerts to provide partial scholarships to those attending Enchanted Hills Camp and help fund rebuilding projects in the aftermath of the devastating 2017 fires.
 
For this year’s benefit, Steve, his good friend, the multi-talented Alex Perez, and Marie Finch, Menlo School’s choral director are presenting the bio-concert A Tribute to Tony Bennett.

We hope you that you enjoy the show. Your contributions will help LightHouse continue to provide a very special experience to blind adults like Anne.

LightHouse is again partnering with AARP’s Tax-Aide Program to provide free tax filing support at LightHouse San Francisco HQ at 1155 Market Street this tax filing season. AARP will be at LightHouse HQ on Mondays and Thursdays from February 5 – April 11 and Wednesdays February 21 and 28 & March 13 and 27.
 
Appointments are required and they can be made for 9:30 am, 11: am, and 12:30 pm. Appointments can be scheduled by leaving a voicemail at 415-694-7648 or completing the AARP Tax-Aide at LightHouse RSVP form.
 
This is open to anyone who needs support filing their federal and California state tax returns for the tax years 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020. (Note: each year requires a separate appointment and we will only be completing 2023 tax returns in February). There is no requirement based on age, income level, or San Francisco residency.
 
Please bring with you:

• Your tax paperwork you’ve received in the mail
• A copy of your social security card
• A copy of your photo ID
• If you are eligible for a refund and would like it deposited directly into your account, please bring a voided check. If you do not have a voided check, your refund check will be mailed to you via USPS.

Out of Scope:

If any of these situations apply to you, you may be out of scope for AARP. If you think that you are out of scope, please feel free to call us so that we can confirm.

• If you do not have health insurance, we cannot prepare your tax return. Apologies, but this is due to the California mandate that requires everybody to have health insurance, which results in tax complications.
• If you have tax deductible contributions to an HSA account, we cannot prepare your tax return. This is due to the differences in Federal and California tax law and is complicated.
• If you have rental income, we cannot prepare your tax return.
• If you are in a civil union or married filing separately, we cannot prepare your tax return. This is due to the differences in Federal and California tax law.
• If you’re self-employed, and want to declare your health insurance premiums as an expense, and are receiving premium tax credits (via CoveredCA), we cannot prepare your tax return.
• If you have rental property, we cannot prepare your return.
• If you have a dependent child with unearned income subject to the “Kiddie Tax”, we cannot prepare your return.
• If you are self-employed and, due to the pandemic, you deferred paying your Self-Employment tax, have a PPP loan, or took Covid sick leave, we cannot prepare your return.
• If you own a business with employees and/or inventory, we cannot prepare your return.  You would be wise to hire a professional tax preparer.
• If you have hobby income or not for profit activity, we cannot prepare your return.

There are some specific requirements and not all taxes will be able to be completed by AARP volunteers; these will be addressed when the appointments are made.
 
If you have any questions, please call 415-694-7648 or email info@old.lighthouse-sf.org

AARP Tax-Aide at LightHouse RSVP form