Appreciation Month: Volunteers - Kathy Ahlvers

By KEN CARPENTER
Great Bend Post

Until a couple of years ago, helping people with their taxes was a family enterprise for Kathy and Richard Ahlvers. They started volunteering for the AARP Tax-Aide Program in 1998. Richard retired in 2019, but Kathy is continuing as the local coordinator for the program. 

Ahlvers grew up on a farm near Galatia as part of the Deines family. She was the oldest of seven children. After graduating from Hoisington High School, she spent two years training with Dr. Clair Cavanaugh at St. Rose Hospital in Great Bend in order to be certified as a radiology technologist. 

Her career in radiology continued after she married Richard. They moved to St. Francis, Kansas where they welcomed two daughters into their family. Richard’s job as a school administrator took the family to Mankato and then Courtland in north, central Kansas. Ahlvers worked in radiology throughout that period. 

In the early 1990s, Ahlvers added something new to her resume. She earned an associate degree in business from Cloud County Community College.  

“I didn’t start to do business,” Ahlvers remembered. “I went in because I wanted a college degree. When I was young and my folks couldn’t afford it, I didn’t get one. One thing just kind of led to another.” 

After finishing at Cloud County, she earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Benedictine College and finally an M.B.A from Kansas State University in 1996. Benedictine and K-State offered programs within driving distance of Ahlvers home in Courtland. 

“When they brought that program out from K-State, I thought, well, I’ll just work on my masters,” Ahlvers said. 

Her husband retired not long after that. They moved to Great Bend where her brother lived in 1998; they could also be close to her parents who lived in Otis.  

It was an article in the paper that led to a new career as a volunteer. 

“I decided not to go back to work because my only grandkid lived in Boise, Idaho and I didn’t want to be tied down to a job. So I saw in the [Great Bend] Tribune they were looking for someone to volunteer to do taxes. I said I’ve got an MBA. Surely I can do taxes. That’s was back when you still did them with paper and a pencil. I didn’t think it would last this long.” 

Not long after they moved to Great Bend, she and her husband signed up as volunteers with the AARP Tax-Aide Program which was created to help low to moderate-income people, with an emphasis on the elderly. They began by taking a class to help prepare them as volunteer tax preparers. And then they got to work. 

“That year, we went to the library and met clients there, and then we’d bring all their information home and do their taxes and have an appointment to meet them the next week,” Ahlvers recalled. “We each took separate clients. If we had a question, we would work together if we needed to. If one of us had a question, you could bounce it off of the other person and see if they agreed with you, and if they didn’t, we had experts we could call for further instructions or information.” 

Going from a paid job to volunteering was an easy step for Ahlvers and her husband. 

“Of course where we worked in the hospital and the school system, you’re working and helping people,” she said. “Once I was not working at a full-time job, I just felt like I needed to do volunteer work. One year leads to another.” 

And the years have added up. Ahlers has worked for 23 years as a volunteer tax preparer. She said her volunteer work is rewarding because it meets a need for her clients. 

“So many of the people we help really can’t afford to pay someone. A lot of them pay more than they get as a refund. The majority really don’t have that much money. And yet they want to do their duty and file their taxes.” 

Ahlvers said the AARP program not only saves her clients the money they would be paying an accountant, but it sometimes helps them reduce their tax burden. 

“There were some that came in that had been doing their own taxes and did not realize that they could file as head of household or that they could get a child tax credit or all these new things that have come out; they didn’t know it,” Ahlvers commented. “And there were others I did every year who became friends. I’ve had some of them that I’ve done their taxes probably close to 20 years.”    

Ahlvers' volunteer work came to a sudden halt in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. She remembers that well. 

“We were working, and we had appointments set and they closed us down. I think it was on March 14th,” she lamented. “At that point, they told us ‘you just quit.’ Anybody who had an appointment after that had to figure out where to get theirs done someplace else.”   

The AARP program started up again this year. Ahlvers said she was able to help people with their taxes again, but AARP required everyone to follow a number of special precautions. 

“They [the clients] would go into the RSVP office, and there was someone there that would meet them. They were really careful contact. They took all their information, they scanned it into the computer. Everybody was working at home and we’d just download our clients and do them at home. The next week they would come back and pick up their tax returns. I would do all the e-filing.”  

Ahlvers has not heard yet if the Covid-19 protocols will be followed again next year. However, she plans to continue helping people even if she can’t meet with them face to face like she used to.  

So how long will she continue to volunteer? She jokingly said that she is going to evaluate that after 25 years. 

“I was going to quit after 20, but I enjoy working with the people we’re working with.  And that makes a lot of difference,” she said. “Volunteer work keeps me busy, keeps my mind active. That’s probably the best thing about it, it keeps your mind active.” 

Read the previous Appreciation Month stories by clicking HERE.