Mann volunteers with RSVP to help seniors with taxes

Sept. 12--Since retiring more than 23 years ago, longtime Garden City resident Ray Mann has given his time to the community in several ways, including volunteering to help fellow seniors with income tax preparation offered through the RSVP program.

"You know, you just can't not do anything," Mann said of his volunteerism. "And there's a real source, there. Marty (Dinkel, RSVP director) and Annette (Elliott, RSVP office manager) find places for you to work and volunteer -- the school, the hospital. I think that's a real plus for Garden City to have that program. I hope they keep funding it."

Garden City residents age 55 and older provide valuable services to various nonprofit, health and other public agencies through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.

Better known as RSVP, the senior volunteer agency is one of 25 agencies and programs receiving funds from the Finney County United Way's annual fundraising campaign.

RSVP, which operates out of the Senior Center of Finney County, 907 N. 10th St., will receive $17,000 from the campaign for 2015, about $1,200 more than the previous year.

United Way dollars help RSVP with volunteer insurance and operating a tax preparation program. Last year, RSVP volunteers helped prepare 1,233 state and federal tax returns.

Mann, 86, has been a Garden City resident since 1969 and worked as area director of the Kansas State University Extension service, which covered 22 counties in the district, until retirement in 1991. He was born in Happy, Texas, a town south of Amarillo.

"Nothing there now, but I guess they still have a post office," Mann said.

After growing up in southwest Oklahoma, Mann joined the Army after high school and then graduated from Oklahoma A&M, which is now Oklahoma State University. He started working for K-State around 1952 or 1953 and received a master's degree from KSU.

Mann started volunteering shortly after retirement.

"I started really in '92, volunteering to do income tax work, and that program went through RSVP," he said.

Ed Hooper, a retired accountant who was part of the original Lewis, Hooper and Dick, was running the volunteer tax preparation program then, Mann said, and essentially taught Mann the ropes.

"He was my mentor. I wasn't an accountant or anything," Mann said. "We had an IRS office in town at the time, and they were very helpful."

The tax preparation program had been offered by the AARP and IRS for a number of years, Mann said, and RSVP and the senior center furnished a place for volunteers to work and connect with people needing assistance.

"It made it easy for clients to come in," he said.

RSVP has been a United Way partner for nearly three decades. A total of 215 volunteers donated 37,703 hours in the 2012-13 fiscal year.

The average age of an RSVP volunteer is about 78, but volunteers range from 55 to their 90s and give to agencies across the community.

RSVP provides volunteers for the Meals on Wheels program for about 12 weeks out of the year. Senior volunteers work in a variety of other locations, including St. Catherine Hospital, Emmaus House, the school district, selling tickets at Garden City Community College athletic events, preparing mailings for organizations, and assisting other seniors with Medicare Part D plans and tax preparation.

RSVP tries to match a volunteer's interests with community agencies and organizations that need help. Volunteers must put in an hour of time each quarter to remain in the program. But some volunteers put in much more time.

Mann and his wife have two daughters, 10 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, including a new one about a month ago. Regarding hobbies, Mann said he used to do a bit of woodworking in the past.

"The same year I retired, our youngest daughter who lives in Salina had a set of triplets, so I made a bunch of toys. I just kind of like to build things. I'm more of a former carpenter than a finished carpenter," he said.

Over the years, Mann has volunteered on a number of other programs, including giving tours at the bison range for the Friends of the Sandsage Bison organization. He also has served on the United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries board in the past, and currently serves on the Finney County Committee on Aging.

Mann didn't need to think long when asked what he enjoys about volunteering.

"I think it's the people. I think that's one great benefit that RSVP does that maybe not a lot of people know about. You get to work with people, and then, all of a sudden, it's over. I've met many people, made friends," he said.

Mann definitely would recommend volunteering to others, and would also recommend RSVP.

"It's a little about serving. It's also something to do," he said. "You know, you don't have to be there at 8 o'clock in the morning. You don't have to go to that meeting that lasted until midnight. And the senior center itself provides a lot of activities."

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