UAFS students provide support for The Clearinghouse

University of Arkansas at Fort Smith students have built a web site and client management database for The Community Services Clearinghouse in Fort Smith.

The Clearinghouse, an area United Way agency that targets hunger and other family needs, provides help to seven counties in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. With that kind of reach, the agency needed an improved web site and better software support for managing and tracking client information.

Six UAFS students took on the task as their senior project. Student Nathan Daniels of Fort Smith said the team wanted to work on something for someone who possibly couldn’t afford to pay for similar services.

“We felt this organization was something we could all get behind,” Daniels said.

Other team members included Jose Pacheco of Lavaca and Grayson Pyle of Cedarville, who worked on the organization’s web presence. Sam Shores of Alma, Joseph Sisk of Coal Hill and Sam Winterberg of Clarksville worked on the client-assistance system. The faculty advisor was information technology instructor Rick Massengale of Fort Smith.

Several of the Clearinghouse projects will be featured on the new site, including Backpack for Kids, a program where backpacks with weekend food are sent home with children. The site also features a slide show of events, and an option for web site visitors to make an online donation to the Clearinghouse. A new user-friendly database will be available to Clearinghouse staff to keep track of clients and donors.

“It touches me that you bought into our organization, and believe in it,” said Rick Foti, Clearinghouse executive director.

Presenting the web site to Clearinghouse staff are (from left to right), Sam Shores, Jose Pacheco, Grayson Pyle, Joseph Sisk, Sam Winterberg, Nathan Daniels and Rick Massengale.