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As reported by Yahoo and the Associated Press:
Drugstore operator Walgreens will offer free clinic visits to the unemployed and uninsured for the rest of the year, providing tests and routine treatment for minor ailments through its walk-in clinics — though patients will still pay for precriptions.
Walgreens said patients who lose their job and health insurance after March 31 will be able to get free treatment at its in-store Take Care clinics for respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments. Typically those treatments cost $59 or more for patients with no insurance.
Hal Rosenbluth, chairman of the Take Care Health Systems division, described the plan as something close to an experiment: He said Walgreens isn’t sure of patient demand or how much providing the services might cost the company.
It’s likely to generate more attention for the clinics, however. Rosenbluth said a typical Take Care patient tells eight other people about his or her experience. So far, about 30 percent of Take Care patients were new customers to Walgreens.
The program is expected to last through the end of 2009. Walgreens runs 341 Take Care clinics in 35 markets around the country, including Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and Cleveland.
Free services will be offered only from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Walgreens said it will not offer free checkups, vaccinations or other injections because it is focusing on providing services patients might otherwise get at an urgent-care center or even an emergency room.
Patients must present proof they are unemployed, including a federal or state unemployment determination letter and an unemployment check stub. They will have to sign a form at the clinic saying they have lost their jobs and health benefits. If they find a new job or get new health insurance, they will no longer be eligible for free care.
Spouses and children are also eligible for free services if they don’t have insurance of their own.
Medical lab operator Quest Diagnostics is participating in the program by offering free tests for step throat and urinary tract infections.
Walgreens bought the Take Care clinics in May 2007. Take Care says it has seen about 1.2 million patients since its launch in November 2005 and estimates that up to 30 percent of them were uninsured.
A fun-filled evening for fashionistas and fashionista wanna-bes will be held Thursday, April 30 at the T. Pepin Hospitality Center in Tampa – and it’s all for a good cause. Clinton Kelly guest speaker at United Way of Tampa Bay’s Fifth Annual Art of Giving, Kelly, co-host of “What Not to Wear”, will give fashion tips and make over two lucky women.
The event benefits Summer Care, a United Way project which provides free summer childcare and financial education to working families, “Caring with Style” is patterned after Kelly’s new bestseller, Freakin’ Fabulous, in which he instructs readers on how to dress, eat, drink, entertain, speak, behave, decorate – in short, how to be fabulous themselves.
Silent and live auctions will include purses by Prada, Dooney & Bourke, Coach, Elliott Lucca, and Michael Kors, and four luxury trips to Paris, Buenos Aires, Isle of Capri and the San Francisco Wine Country. Signed copies of Clinton’s book will be available for an additional donation.
Upon entering the hall, guests will interact with a larger-than-life display of Kelly’s book, Freakin Fabulous, and a pictorial display of what Summer Care means to the families who participate. During the program, a surprise presentation by a woman who used to donate to United Way – and then found herself in need of Summer Care for her children – will include a Kelly makeover. An additional Kelly makeover was auctioned on eBay in the weeks before the event.
“We enjoy preparing for the Art of Giving event and when Clinton Kelly agreed to come, we were thrilled,” said Afira DeVries, United Way of Tampa Bay Vice President of Resource Development. “And when you realize that you’re having all this fun and raising money so parents can send their children to a safe environment during the summer, it’s a satisfying feeling.”
For tickets visit www.unitedwaytampabay.org or call Courtney Smith at 813.274.0914.
Event Schedule:
Art of Giving
Thursday, April 30, 2009
5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Cocktails, Registration and Fun
6:30 – 9:00 p.m. – Dinner and Program
T. Pepin Hospitality Center
4121 N. 50th Street, Tampa
Tickets: $100.00
Table sponsorships available
United Way’s Disaster Services blog has been launched to provide the Tampa Bay community – citizens and health and human services agencies — with a disaster planning, mitigation, and recovery resource.
In addition to finding help with getting your family ready for a disaster, human service agencies will find help with business continuity planning as well.
You will also be kept up to date on United Way’s work with its many partners with respect to the following:
1. The development of Volunteer Reception Centers that are primed and ready to go in the case of a major disaster.
2. The development of collaborations throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties that work to mobilize human service organizations, governments, business, and volunteer organizations when a major disaster strikes.
3. Opportunities for human service agencies to participate in disaster training workshops.
4. Information for citizens about how to prepare for, and respond to, a major disaster.
5. Where to go for help if and when a major disaster strikes.
If you have any ideas about how this blog could better help you and the community, please contact Sheri Taylor at United Way. Her email is staylor@uwtb.org and her phone number is 813-274-0962.
If you would like to volunteer for a post-disaster opprtunity, please register with us for opportunties posted HERE.
Warn/Acorn Report on Foreclosures in Pinellas County indicates clearly the challenges families are facing during this economic downturn. You can download the full report (PDF) HERE
THE EXTENT OF THE CRISIS
This report examines a snapshot of the foreclosure crisis in Pinellas County through an analysis of homes undergoing foreclosure proceedings during January, February, and March of 2008. Records of foreclosure proceedings in Pinellas County Circuit Court are available to the public on the County’s official website. A review of these records shows that 3,005 residential foreclosure proceedings were in progress during the first three months of 2008. While foreclosure on any home is a threat to property owners and communities, we wanted to focus on borrowers in the most dire need.
Therefore, we eliminated from our list property owners who owned more than one property in the county, or whose address of record is outside of the county, and ended up with a list of 1,001 foreclosure proceedings—all of which likely involve homeowners in danger of being evicted from their only home and residence (i.e., likely involving “homesteaded” properties). This is the data set presented in this report.
Almost half of these 1,001 foreclosures were occurring in St. Petersburg, but the remainder were spread throughout practically every community in the County—from Tierra Verde to Tarpon Springs. In fact, there was no spot in Pinellas County more than 2 miles from a homeowner facing foreclosure proceedings in early 2008. Furthermore, the crisis is affecting homeowners across the economic spectrum, with homes in foreclosure having market values ranging from under $50,000 to over $1 million. (Almost 10% of the homes on the list are worth more than $300,000.)
THE EFFECTS OF THE CRISIS
While the effects of the foreclosure crisis are harder to quantify than its extent, numerous social and economic ills can be linked to foreclosure. Those evicted from their homes are clearly the most affected—for them, foreclosure may mean a substantially lowered sta dard of living or even homelessness. Their former neighbors and communities,however, also feel the impact.
Between 2005 and 2007, the homeowner vacancy rate in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area rose from 1.8% to 5.1%, giving it in 2007 the second-highest vacancy rate among large metropolitan areas nationwide. High rates of foreclosure and resultant vacancy have been linked to higher crime rates and lower property values. Lower property values, in turn, often result in cuts to much-needed social services, from schools to law enforcement.
The Center for Responsible Lending predicts that Pinellas County properties will lose over $700 million in value as a result of foreclosures related to subprime mortgages issued in 2005-2006 alone. That equates to a loss of over $14 million in property tax revenues.
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If you or anyone you know is in need of assistance, dial 2-1-1. You can also visit the Emergency Assistance Page at My Family’s Future. There may other helpful resources for you and those you care about on that site as well.
[posted from myfamilysfuture.org]
Throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, there are many free income tax preparation sites that not only can help you file your income tax at no cost, but help you access EITC and Child Tax Credit refunds, if you qualify. Please read below to find out more.
About EITC
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-and moderate-income working individuals and families. Congress, with strong bipartisan support, originally approved the tax credit legislation in 1975. When EITC exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit.
To qualify, taxpayers must meet certain requirements and file a tax return, even if they did not earn enough money to be obligated to file a tax return. EITC has no effect on certain welfare benefits. In most cases, EITC payments will not be used to determine eligibility for Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), food stamps, low-income housing or most Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) payments.
To find a free income tax preparation site near you:
Download sites in Pinellas County
Download sites in Hillsborough County
For more information check out United Way’s financial asset building portal at http://www.myfamilysfuture.org
Program gives free books to all Hillsborough kids (St. Petersburg Times)
Free Books Exercise Imagination (TBO.com)
Fox News Video about Imagination Library
United Way and the Imagination Library Hillsborough County Partnership launched an early literacy initiative to put books in the hands of young children, helping 
prepare them for kindergarten.Hillsborough County’s kindergarten class of 2011 – infants born on or after September 1, 2006 are eligible to participate in the program.
Parents can call 813-272-5017 to register their child.
For more information go to http://www.unitedwaytampabay.com/imaginationlibrary
