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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year.

Members of our family come over for some great Southern cookin’ and my wife serves up a delicious turkey with homemade dressing, a recipe passed down for generations. Couple this with all the goodies supplied by other family members, and we’ve got a meal that’s nothing short of amazing.

For us, Thanksgiving is also a time of “giving thanks” for all of our blessings - including family, friends, and more.

On behalf of all the families of Simon Solutions, we offer a sincere thanks to all of you, our valued customers. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to partner with you in making a difference in your communities.

We wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving and a joyous year’s end!

-Mike Simon

Cedar Park church meeting the need of families in crisis

Hill Country Nazarene has quietly provided food, clothing to community for 3 years

Austin, TX

By Mike Parker

Austin Community Newspapers Staff

Volunteers at Hill Country Nazarene Church in Cedar Park have quietly worked over the past three years to fulfill a critical need.

The unpaid volunteers head to the church on Bagdad Road every Monday and Tuesday to cheerfully arrange and distribute food to hundreds of families. Pastor Joe Bob Ellison said most volunteers rarely miss a week.

“More than half have been here since the beginning,” he said. “I can’t get them to take a week off.”

Those volunteers have helped the food pantry grow from a humble program to the large enterprise it is today. Ellison said the food pantry last year served more than 16,000 families, which equated to more than 500 tons of distributed food.

“It just blows my mind every single week, and I’ve seen it for almost three-and-a-half years,” he said.

Every week since September 2010, the church has been transformed into a scene reminiscent of an indoors grocery market. Visitors fill the main hall, which holds tables full of bread, vegetables, fruit and bags of canned goods.

Lorene Watkins, a volunteer who herself received help from the church, said families get to the church as early as 5 a.m. to receive food and clothing.

“We all know the families are coming here and not going home hungry,” she said.

Ellison called it the best-kept secret in Williamson County.

“We tell people all the time we serve up to 350-450 families a week, but we always tell them you have to see it,” he said.

On Tuesday, adults and children filled sets of chairs that would normally hold the church’s congregation. Every adult gave personal information that is added to Charity Tracker, a database used by churches and food pantries throughout the area. After being given a number, they waited patiently for their turn to receive the much-needed groceries.

Ellison said all walks of life have headed to the church in times of crisis. One man had worked at Dell Inc. and received a six-figure salary until being laid off, he said. After six months of unemployment, he found help at the church.

“As a former chaplain, I’ve been to way too many suicides,” Ellison said. “And that guy was way too close to that, because he was worth more financially to his family dead than alive.”

The man received help not only through groceries but also from the love and encouragement volunteers gave him during his visits. Today, Ellison said the man is employed and able to once again take care of his family.

“The only way he was able to do that was by us helping him bridge that gap,” he said.

Linda Starnes, who has volunteered at the church for more than two years, said all walks of life seek help at the church.

“Very few, probably only 2 percent, are taking advantage of the system,” she said. “Most people who need help have a disability or just lost their job.”

Starnes decided to volunteer after retiring as a state employee. She worked in the Victim Services Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which made her particularly equipped to handle people in the midst of crisis.

“Honestly, it’s been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, and I’m not just saying that,” she said of her volunteer work.

The welcoming environment, which is devoid of judgment from volunteers, is what brings families back to the church, she said.

“We give them love and respect,” Starnes said. “That’s a free thing.”

The visitors range in age and background. On Tuesday, volunteers wandered throughout the crowd, hugging previous visitors and commiserating with others who are facing hard times.

An elderly man, who stood at the back of the crowd, seemed overwhelmed.

“I’m ashamed to be here, and I’m happy you are here for my need,” he said, speaking loudly to the volunteers.

The large crowd that fills the church mirrors recent data released by the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey. The family poverty rate rose from 3 percent to 5.6 percent in Cedar Park and 3.5 percent 5.7 percent in Leander, according to the survey. The study defined poverty as someone whose income is below the federal threshold, about $21,000 for a family of three.

Jon Marotz said he envisioned the church having a food pantry when he saw a similar program at his previous church in South Austin. Ellison said Marotz told him “God was telling him to start something.”

But Ellison was wary of starting such a large endeavor.

“A lot of times churches and people jump into stuff, and then they get burned out,” he said. “And then they stop doing it, and the only people who get hurt are the ones you are trying to serve.”

But after a year of planning, the church opened its doors to families. The first week hosted six families, and from there, “it just blew up,” he said.

“The only reason we’re able to do this is God provided,” he said. “There is no other pantry I’ve ever seen that steps out on faith like ours has.”

Marotz agreed, saying the presence of a higher power is what allows the pantry to keep up with the demand.

“We never once had to turn anyone anyway. I can guarantee that is not a coincidence,” he said.

The pantry receives donations and help from a variety of sources. Hill Country Bible Church Austin sends volunteers to the church every week, and food is purchased or donated through the Capital Area Food Bank. Anyone from individuals to groups of middle school students donate money or hold fundraisers benefiting the pantry.

Ellison said on Monday a volunteer from NetApp, a local data storage company, decided to write a $6,000 check to the church. The donation will help the church serve more than 4,000 people expecting to attend the Share Your Blessings Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday.

“Wow. It’s powerful,” Ellison said about the donation. “(But) I don’t freak out, because every year we have stories like that.”

Ellison explained that the church is simply being “the hands and feet of Christ,” a sentiment he hoped to see in other congregations.

“We’re not talking about making a difference in our community,” he said. “We’re actually making a difference in our community.”

Here's a link to the original article.

Hi there! This is Isaac Simon, the Chief Technology Officer here at Simon Solutions. Occasionally, I'll be sharing helpful tech tips and tools that can hopefully enhance the way you and your organization do what you do so well, reach out to those in need.

We've tried just about every web meeting product out there and only one has proved absolutely invaluable, join.me

The problem is that many of the web meeting products available require cumbersome steps to start or join an online meeting. Too many features, too many options, too much trouble!

With join.me the presenter (and only the presenter) downloads a small application, then sends all attendees a link to join the meeting. Here's where it shines - The attendees click a link from an email and they're in, looking at the presenters screen. No software download, no headaches.

Attendees can access the web meeting via their desktop, laptop, iPhone, iPad or Android from wherever they are.

In their words - "join.me combines instant screen sharing and powerful meeting tools in an app that anyone can use to present, train, demo or concept. join.me is designed to be intuitive and accessible, providing features that you'll use every day for everything from show-and-tell to formal presentations."

You can check it out for free at join.me. Simply click "start meeting".

If you love it and choose to upgrade to the pro account (meeting recordings, up to 250 attendees, custom web address and more) they offer discounted non-profit pricing.

Florence software company to showcase flagship product developed for food banks, partner agencies

By Lucy Berry

Posted October 16, 2013 at 4:30 PM, updated October 16, 2013 at 4:33 PM

FLORENCE, Alabama – They describe themselves as nerds, armed with a hunger to design and build web applications and make computers easier to navigate.

The Florence-based software business has developed a flagship product for food banks and partner agencies to keep track of information related to client intake and reporting data, as well as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) outreach.

The company, Simon Solutions, will showcase their product Oasis Insight, which is being used by 50 of more than 200 food banks in the Feeding America Network, during the Feeding America Agency Capacity, Programs and Nutrition Conference in Chicago from Oct. 21-23.

"This gives us a chance to talk with our food bank partners face to face, listen to their goals and grow our relationships," said Oasis Insight spokesperson Joey Yarber.

Opened since early 2006, Simon Solutions eventually developed the CharityTracker after being approached by the United Way of Northwest Alabama to devise a system that would link caregivers in the event of a future emergency. Thousands of groups in more than 650 U.S. cities are now using the system.

Here's a link to the original article.

Joey Yarber and Kyle Minckler are eager to speak with your representatives who are attending the 2013 Feeding America ACPN Conference in Chicago, IL (Oct. 21st-23rd).

Make sure to stop by the Oasis Insight table and say hello!

Paying monthly for CharityTracker or Oasis Insight? Save 10% and switch to Yearly billing! Give us a call or visit your billing tab. Happy Savings!

Kyle and Sadie Minckler, members of our Simon Solutions family, recently celebrated the birth of twin boys – Henry and Harlow.

Mom and Dad are learning how to do more…with less sleep.

Perhaps the reason for this is the lively conversations that the boys are having about Alabama/Auburn football.

As you can see, Henry is very enthusiastic about Alabama winning another national championship. Harlow suggests that they wait and see the stats from other teams.

Despite sleepless nights, Mom and Dad still consider the boys to be a wonderful blessing.

We salute all helping agencies for their tireless work in combating hunger in America.

I am reminded of the story of the little girl walking down the beach, throwing beached starfish back into the sea. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of stranded starfish waiting to die. A passerby asked the little girl, “With so many starfish to throw back, what difference will it make?” The little girl paused for a moment…looked at the starfish in her hand and politely said, “Well, it will make a difference to this one.”

We thank all the users of CharityTracker and Oasis Insight for your part in making a difference in people’s lives. We wish you well for your Hunger Action Month campaigns and special events.

Charity Tracker helps nonprofits assist those in need, maximize resources

Athens, Georgia

By April Burkhart, Published Saturday, July 6, 2013

It’s been almost two years since a group of churches and agencies came together to assemble a database to help them better serve people in Athens in need of financial assistance.

Since its official launch in January 2012, Charity Tracker — or the Athens Area Compassion Cooperative, as it is known locally — not only has allowed churches and agencies to securely share records, notes, alerts and other information, but also has helped to maximize resources and weed out people trying to take advantage of services.

“In the past it was really hard for us to know where an individual had already been for assistance or where to send them to get immediate needs met,” said Lucy Hudgens, executive director of The Ark, one of the agencies that helped bring Charity Tracker, a Web application, to Athens. “Charity Tracker has allowed all of these agencies and churches to be on the same page, share resources and help each other.” Hudgens now chairs the steering committee that oversees the Athens Area Compassion Cooperative.

Dawn Aiello, community programs director for Community Connection of Northeast Georgia, is the site’s network administrator and said one of the things she’s noticed the application do is help agencies and churches meet people’s needs more quickly.

A recent example includes a family that came to The Ark. One of the parents had been laid off and the family was facing eviction. The Ark was able to get on Charity Tracker to determine whether the parent had been helped elsewhere, and found out they had not. Hudgens then posted a bulletin to other agencies and churches to get assistance for the family before the eviction was finalized. A few of the groups came together and were able to generate the funds needed to keep the family from being evicted.

Enhancing communication and collaboration between agencies and churches also has resulted in the generation of a complete picture of an individual’s circumstances. If agencies can see that a person received mental health services from Advantage Behavioral Health System, stayed three nights at a local shelter and recently needed help to pay for a medical expense, they can determine what the root problem might be and help the person overcome it, Aiello explained. By attacking the root of the problem, agencies and other service providers hope to help the person get out of their situation and become self-sufficient, rather than providing quick fixes to immediate needs.

“In the past, agencies have always had one piece of the puzzle. Now we can see a complete picture of a person’s life and needs,” Hudgens said.

The Athens Area Compassion Cooperative network currently comprises 24 agencies, but Aiello and Hudgens are encouraging government, nonprofit and faith-based organizations not already a part of the network to sign up.

Here's a link to the original article.

Chances are there are others in your community with the same vision of helping those in need and collaborating but are not yet a part of your CharityTracker network. The full potential of CharityTracker is realized when a community works together!

You've probably noticed the "Invite" button found at the top of the CharityTracker screen. Here is where you can quickly send invitations to care providers in your community who you think would benefit from joining the network.

If you haven't used the Invite button before please watch this introduction video. Are you ready to help grow your network?

If you have a tip that worked for you that could help others grow their network, please leave a comment below...