Low-income individuals and families in the Fresno area are receiving groceries from the Community Food Bank in special bags advising them on how to get money back from Uncle Sam.

The bags, donated by the California Society of CPAs and the CalCPA Institute, provide information on how to apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a federal program. To receive the credit, low-income individuals must file a tax return.

Each bag provides the rules for qualifying for the EITC and lists locations at which low-income individuals can have their taxes prepared for free through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

"Every dollar is important to people who come to the Community Food Bank," said Sarah Reyes, the food bank's CEO. "Providing food in bags with information about how our clients can get some of their tax dollars back is one way we can help them stretch their resources."

The food bank will use the bags through April, which is Financial Literacy Month.

"CalCPA got involved with the food bank because we knew that they were low on resources after having distributed a lot of food in response to the recent freezes that affected farm workers," said Kay Coffin, coordinator for the Fresno CalCPA chapter. "Sarah Reyes advised us that
the best way we could help is by providing paper bags."

Members of the Fresno CalCPA chapter helped defray the cost of the 20,000 bags, which were recently shipped to the food bank.