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When a person loses a job, the immediate worries are obvious: How to pay the bills and get a paycheck coming in again. But there are other details that shouldn't be overlooked, and the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona has set up tax-preparation services to help people who've lost a job or taken a pay cut this year apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit, if they qualify.

The Earned Income Tax Credit can help people who work in low-wage jobs receive money back. An adult with two or more dependent children and making $38,646 or less a year could get back up to $4,824 on their federal taxes, for example. There are other criteria to be eligible for the credit, but this benefit can help families recoup much-needed money.

The United Way is part of the Earned Income Tax Credit Taskforce, which wants to make sure that people who didn't qualify in prior years don't overlook this benefit for their 2008 taxes.

The United Way and the taskforce will be offering free tax-preparation services across the area for people who qualify by income, beginning at the end of January. The group is also looking for volunteer tax preparers, who will be trained by the IRS, to make these clinics happen.

It's good to plan ahead, gather tax-related documents and wait to find out if you qualify by income for the free service — especially instead of going to a predatory tax-preparation outlet, such as a car dealer offering to do your taxes and use your refund as a down payment. Those arrangements typically eat into your refund because you're really getting a short-term loan, so you pay for the tax preparation and pay a loan fee.

More people are asking the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona for assistance than ever before. This phenomenon is not unique. We've heard similar reports from the Community Food Bank, the Salvation Army, the Giving Tree and other nonprofit organizations. Most are also reporting a drop in donations and must try to do more with less.

These organizations also report seeing people who've never asked for help before. The applicants have lost a job or a house to foreclosure and find themselves part of the "new poor."

The United Way is attacking the problem in several ways that will help people whose financial circumstances have changed dramatically in the past year. On Monday, the agency started an "economic crisis assistance fund" to help people get through problems like a utility shutoff, coming up with a rent deposit or other one-time bills.

Dan Duncan of the local United Way described the kind of situation this fund is set up to address: A single mother who had an adjustable-rate mortgage could afford her $800 home payment, but the rate adjusted and her payment jumped to $1,500 a month. She got behind in her payments by about $3,000 but was able to negotiate with her lender and get the payment back to $800 per month, if she could pay the $3,000 she owed.

Working through a nonprofit agency, the United Way fund was able to help her chip away at that debt — the limit is $1,500 every six months.

The United Way crisis fund relies on donations and was seeded with a $50,000 donation.

"This fund is only as good as people want to care," Duncan told the Star. Donations will be used to help agencies in the donor's ZIP code, so it will help people locally, he said.

The local United Way has not seen a big drop in its workplace donations, said Ed Parker, the president and CEO.

"We're nervously watching right now," he said, adding that participation in many workplaces is up — and people who are in a position to give seem to be giving more.

Southern Arizonans are a generous bunch and we're not surprised that people are thinking of their neighbors and rising to the occasion. We're also grateful that organizations such as the United Way, the Community Food Bank and so many others are there to extend a helping hand to people in need.