OnTrack Financial Education & Counseling, a non-profit organization that provides financial literacy training to individuals throughout the region, is holding a fundraiser they call Toast & Boast. A celebration of its clients’ successes, this event incorporates engaging opportunities to explore and support the various programs offered for free by the organization.
Come to the Toast & Boast event on Thursday, May 30, at Highland Brewing from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. A number of OnTrack staff, volunteers, and clients will be on hand to tell the true stories of their inspiring financial successes over the past year. It’s a fun evening with music, food, drinks, conversations, raffles and games.
Toast & Boast tickets are $45, and they’re still available.
What Is Toast & Boast All About?
This event raises funds for OnTrack WNC so it can continue to offer free financial education and counseling services. Providing knowledge, instruction and inspiration to everyone benefits the region from Ashe County to Cherokee County. The organization even has Spanish-language classes, counseling and outreach efforts.
Support OnTrack WNC: donate today.
The goal for Toast & Boast is to reach $5,000 in donations from the event’s attendees. While chatting up the speakers and staff over a drink, you can find many ways to donate, including:
- Visiting “Inspiration Stations,” where you learn about OnTrack’s educational opportunities and programs
- Using posted QR codes with client quotes to donate $25 toward your favorite
- Sponsoring a class by buying a mini folding chair (perfect for your phone) for $50, which gives you a chance to win a raffle prize
- Participating in the Key to Housing Stability game — for $100, you get a key to open a door and win the prize behind it … if it fits
- Learning about and meeting with the organization’s sponsors and business partners, including representatives from:
- Mountain BizWorks
- AVL Technologies
- Biltmore
- HomeTrust Bank
- State Farm
- Self Help Credit Union
- GoPrime Mortgage in West Asheville <Link to https://www.goprime.com/office/west-asheville/>
- Beacon Pointe Advisors
- Land of the Sky Association of Realtors
- Employee Assistance Network
Become a Toast & Boast sponsor, too.
Why Support OnTrack WNC?
More than three quarters of Americans don’t understand basic financial concepts, according to analysts at Gitnux, an independent research firm. That’s not surprising, since fewer than 17 percent receive any personal finance instruction in school. The consequences of this knowledge gap have led to discouraging statistics, such as:
- 70 percent don’t have long-range financial plans.
- 60 percent don’t even use a budget.
- 55 percent say they lose sleep because of money woes.
- 44 percent couldn’t handle a $400 emergency without going deeper into debt.
- 40 percent don’t pay their bills until past due.
- 20 percent admit to spending more than they earn.
- 20 percent believe a realistic way to get rich is to win the lottery.
Where can you turn to learn how to handle your finances? OnTrack WNC has enjoyed an amazing record of success by teaching people just like you how to:
- Save for a house when you’re having trouble paying off a car or student loan
- Pay your bills today so you’re in a better financial situation in the future
- Manage debt if your income isn’t rising as fast as your expenses
- Plan for a family or retire in comfort
The simple steps they teach have proven to have long-term, transformative value. Getting this life-changing education is more readily available than you may expect.
Contact the agency today to schedule an appointment.
What Is OnTrack Financial?
This regional non-profit holds classes and provides one-on-one counseling. It even offers free tax preparation. According to Executive Director Melinda Bullen, OnTrack WNC volunteers secured $811,411 in tax refunds for their clients during the most recent tax season, including $150,238 in refunds for 204 individuals aged 60 or older.
The organization got its start in 1973, when local businesses, United Way agencies and the Better Business Bureau helped form the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of WNC (CCCS), which is still OnTrack’s official name. Its goal was — and remains — to combat predatory creditors and teach basic financial literacy to anyone who wanted it. After forming, CCCS:
- Offered counseling focused on budgeting and reducing or eliminating unsecured personal debt (aka credit card debt)
- Rebranded in 2007 as OnTrack Financial Education & Counseling
- Came to rely on individual donations, grants, partnerships and volunteers
What Services Does OnTrack Provide?
Working with OnTrack WNC has improved lives throughout the region. Many of those who’ve taken even one class or counseling session remember the lessons for the rest of their lives. Some former clients return to sponsor, partner or volunteer with the organization. Popular OnTrack services include:
- Individual financial counseling sessions. In-person and virtual counseling services include homebuyer education, credit counseling, budgeting, debt counseling (including student debt advice) and foreclosure prevention.
- Education classes. Learning basic and advanced concepts in English or Spanish helps you begin to dig out from debt to reach real goals. Classes include financial goal setting, basic money concepts, credit management, homebuyer education and debt management.
- Homebuyer resources. OnTrack takes you through the homebuying process, examining every step along the way. These programs focus on credit basics, affordable mortgages, down payments and discrimination, while sharing other homebuying resources.
- Free tax preparation. Qualified tax accountants prepare tax returns, often finding refunds for you, regardless of your situation.
- Secure Match Program. With the help of knowledgeable advisors, you can start building savings for a specific goal by putting away a certain amount every pay period. At the end of a successful six-month program, you get your savings matched up to four times the amount.
Donate to OnTrack WNC today to support these programs.
OnTrack WNC also participates in the Land of Sky Association of Realtors’ affordable housing fairs throughout the year. Stationed near the entrance to the fairs, OnTrack’s staff provides free credit scores for attendees, so they’re better armed to navigate potential homebuying strategies.
As the Board President of OnTrack WNC’s Board of Directors, Zachery Adam of GoPrime Mortgage in West Asheville <Link to https://www.goprime.com/loan-officers/zachery-adam/> understands the value the organization provides to the community. With 18 years’ experience in housing and real estate, he believes educated clientele more readily become successful homebuyers.
Discover how you can support free financial literacy in our community.
Sources:
https://ontrackwnc.org/toast-boast.html
https://gitnux.org/financial-literacy-in-america-statistics/
