NWA Give Camp wraps up

It was a grueling weekend of coding, problem solving and camaraderie for 51 tech-savvy volunteers who donated 1,020 hours of time to eight local charities. The second annual NWA GIve Camp’s mission was simple – geeking for good.

The financial impact of this selfless gift that will keep on giving is valued at more than $100,000, according to Sarah Daigle Scott, director for this year’s event.

As the event wrapped up Sunday evening, seven local charities walked away with new or vastly improved websites that not only integrate social media platforms and allow for donations through PayPal but also include every bell and whistle available.

Ozark Recovery Center, the eighth charity, asked for an automated data base to replace a paper file system for its thousands of client records. Robby Gregory, president of Dot Net User Group NWA, was one of five developers who worked on the Ozark Recovery Center project.

“This was by far the hardest project, and we had some veteran developers on this team but did not get to a finished product in two and half days.” Gregory said.

Ozark Recovery spokeswoman said the group started from scratch and the tools and work contributed will go a long way to helping the center fully automate their records.

The NWA Autism Support Group walked away with much more than the new website they requested. The lead volunteers for this project made a personal connection with Traci Sikels, the president of the local non-profit.

Betsy Hecksel, senior manager at Walmart ISD, recruited her son and husband who drove from Texas to work all weekend on the local autism support organization’s website and technology wish list.

“They were awesome, they knew exactly what we needed because they walk in our shoes. Betsy has a 23-year old son who was diagnosed with autism 20 years ago, when little was known about the disorder. She connected with us on a very personal level. Autism is not a life sentence but it is for life. Betsy is a now great resource for our local organization, she shared her personal story on our new website,” Sikels said.

Hecksel was also applauded for her efforts to recruit Walmart tech masters to volunteer for the give camp event. Of the 51 tech volunteers, one-third came from Walmart.

When the dust settled Sunday evening, Walmart volunteers had given 447.5 hours of their time to the charities at give camp.

Hecksel said those volunteer hours will also general a handsome sum of VAP money — a cash donation —  back to the NWA Developers as seed money for the next give camp event. VAP, Volunteerism Always Pays, is an internal incentive by Walmart for its associates to share their time and talents in the local community.

The local Christian Womens Job. Corp. had a team of five volunteers: Beau Poytner of America’s Car-Mart, Beto Tinoco from Walmart ISD; Brian Neumeier of Consumer Testing Labs; Rebecca Haden of Haden Interactive; Karen Strain a systems analyst with University of Arkansas; and Angela Belford of the Belford Group.

This eclectic group gave their charity a brand-new website in addition to a new Twitter account, PayPal capabilities and mail chimp to facilitate e-mail newsletters.

“I thought the experience was tremendous. I really enjoyed working with other team members, sharing information and being part of this geeking for good event,” Haden said.

Tinoco said most of time he keeps his head down working .net for Walmart but this experience gave him an opportunity to use another application – WordPress. And he really liked working closely with designers to build a website that looks like it cost thousands – but was given away to help a worthy charity.

Jeff Amerine, from Innovate Arkansas, was one of the major sponsors of this year’s event.

“It’s important to get techies away from their cubicles and problem solving for the good of the community. This is a super program on so many levels,” Amerine said.

Participating Non-Profits
7 Hills Homeless Center
Circle of Life Hospice
Christian Women Jobs Corp. NWA
Community Clinic
Office of Human Concern
Ozark Recovery Center
NWA Autism Support Group
Dig 4 Diabetes