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Exciting times here at SSI.

We've just had a new phone system installed. Our old system was on its last leg, and also couldn't handle more than four lines at once. With the new system, if we have a day with heavy call volume, fewer people will have to go to voicemail.

There may be some bumps along the way, as we learn the ins and outs of our new phones, but we'll get there. Thanks for your understanding.

Charity Tracker Helps Accountability

Vidalia, Georgia

April 15-- If you contributed to the local United Way this year, you'll be glad to know its agencies are using a computer tracking system to help avoid assistance abuse.

Sandy Roberts with the Salvation Army in Vidalia says "Charity Tracker" helps make sure those who really need assistance are being served.

"We have a data base now that shows us if the same people are going everywhere. You really can't just tell another agency about a client, but with "Charity Tracker" they can just put a name in and the computer will tell them if they're in it. It makes us better stewards of what we have to make sure those who really need help are getting it and the ones who are working the system aren't getting it so it's all gone when somebody who really needs it walks in," Roberts reports.

Right now Roberts says the Salvation Army food pantry is almost bare and she's hoping the United Way-Letter Carrier Food Drive in May will help her re-stock the shelves.

She's also asking that if you have any clothing, old applicances or furniture or almost anything, they need it for the Salvation Army Store on Jackson Street in Vidalia. The store is one way they raise money to help people.

"There's a lot of families who would never come and ask for help, but they shop in our store. They can buy kids clothes for $1.99 and their clothes for $2.99 and that helps them be able to afford to buy food and pay bills," she says.

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.



The video above does an excellent job of introducing you to the concept of one of my favorite services, Dropbox. Imagine never having to email yourself files so you can work on them at home, imagine easily sharing a large folder of pictures and video with someone in just a few clicks, or most importantly imagine having your files backed up and always available no matter where you are!

Dropbox is a folder on your computer that automatically syncs everything inside with all of your computers, phones, tablets and a secure password-protected web site.

You could start writing a grant proposal at the office, finish it at the house, and show it to potential funder the next day at lunch. And all the while you never had to email yourself the file. When you clicked "Save" at your house, the file was automatically updated on your office computer and your smartphone!

Dropbox can also make collaboration a breeze. Let's say you and a colleague need to work on a presentation together, you just create a folder and enable folder sharing. Your teammate will get an email invitation to the folder. Then, when either one of you add or make changes to a file in that folder, you'll both stay perfectly in sync.

The examples are endless. I have yet to find someone who has tried Dropbox and didn't fall head over heels in love. It's super easy-to-use and free. If you want to store a large amount of files, they have a paid tier which I think is totally worth it, but you can make that decision for yourself.

Make your life easier and check out Dropbox.

This post is part of a series of technology tips presented by Isaac Simon, the Chief Technology Officer at Simon Solutions.

Greetings everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce to you our new CEO, Ben Stedman. Ben and I have worked together for many years, and I believe he will be be an asset to both Simon Solutions and to you as we continue to grow and move into the future.

Mike Simon
President

Hello! I am excited to take on the role of CEO here at Simon Solutions. I am one of the founding owners of Simon Solutions and have worked diligently since day one to give you the best service we can offer. I know there are many areas where we can improve our service, and we will continue to work diligently to achieve those improvements.

Even though I am new to this role, I can assure you that the principles that have guided Simon Solutions over the last seven years will continue to guide us into the future. We will continue to build software that is simple to understand and use. We will continue to answer your phone calls and emails promptly. And we will continue to be company of integrity, honored to serve you as you offer service to others.

We wholeheartedly believe in what you do. We are proud to be a small part of the Human Services community and we will do our best to be a valuable member.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me: ben@simonsolutions.com

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ben Stedman


Moving forward we are going to use this blog to do a better job of communicating with you. I will blog each month as will our new CTO Isaac Simon. Isaac will offer reviews of software and services that he has found which he feels may help you in your day to day work. Look for a blog post from him in the near future!

United Way agency provides temporary assistance

Alexander City, Alabama

Published 11:48am Saturday, December 8, 2012

By Laura Pemberton

Tallapoosa Aid to People (TAP) has been temporarily helping people who have fallen on hard times since 1983.

TAP provides limited help by paying rent, mortgage payments, utility bills or prescriptions for those in temporary need of assistance, according to Rosemary Brigham, board member of the organization.

“I’ve seen people be able to keep houses because of TAP,” said Brigham, who has been with the organization since its founding. “I’ve seen reductions in anxiety, and I’ve seen people be able to purchase medicines that allowed them to get better and return to work.”

Brigham said TAP helped 369 families last year, but without help from the Lake Martin Area United Way, TAP providing assistance would not be possible.

“Without United Way we would not exist,” Brigham said. “They allow us to continue to serve the people in our community.”

TAP is one of the 23 agencies funded by the Lake Martin Area United Way.

“TAP is a wonderful program,” said Sharon Fuller, United Way executive director. “We’re honored they’re a part of United Way, and we can help out so many.”

Brigham said TAP strives to improve the quality of life of residents in Tallapoosa and Coosa counties through temporary assistance to meet emergency needs.

“We should not be a budgeted resource,” Brigham said. “For us to help an applicant, they must prove they have experienced a crisis or change in income and will have a way to pay the bills next month. Our goal is to help them get through an immediate crisis.”

Brigham said some of the most common changes include loss of job, death, reduction in job hours and sickness.

“The reason we require proof that bills can be paid next month is we want to avoid using our limited funds if we know it’ll be disconnected anyway,” Brigham said. “We require verification and make payments directly to the companies.”

Aid from the organization is limited to once a year, and participants are run through charity tracker.

Fuller said charity tracker is a computerized system that tracks payments given by different charities to be sure aid is not being abused.

“They want to be able to help as many people as possible,” Fuller said. “This recession hasn’t just hit one certain aspect of people – there are more and more people in need.”

Brigham said those needing assistance can call 256-234-3291 and request an appointment with Dorris Black. Applicants will need to provide proof of income and identification.

Here's a link to the original article.

Software lets Joplin groups track who gets help

Updated: May 12, 2012 5:18 PM CST

Joplin, Missouri

By Jehan Sheikh, Reporter

Since the May 22 tornado many organizations and churches have responded providing more aid to people in need. In the last year, around 12,000 Joplin families received 77,000 items of assistance.

The Joplin Charity Tracker Network is a computer program that the Watered Gardens Gospel Mission Center started and tracks who is receiving food, clothing and even shelter.

More than 40 organizations use the charity tracker and it allows them to network together to monitor the distribution of the resources.

Watered Garden officials say the program is a tool to help them determine who is abusing the system and who actually needs the assistance. They say they want to track who has food stamps in order to give to those who don't.

"Right now it's so important that we come back from allowing people to abuse the system over and over and over again I mean we have a lot of that that's happened, especially in disaster time when there is a lot of stuff being given away there is a lot of people that come and want some things," says James Whitford, the Executive Director for Watered Gardens Missions Center.

Here's a link to the original article.

County assistance group reorganizes

March 22, 2012

Justin Lofton
Staff Writer

Ada, Oklahoma

A community assistance association meeting resulted in changes to committee bylaws Tuesday night.

Pontotoc County Assistance Association, formerly known as Ada Community Assistance Association, committee members voted to change the association’s name to reflect their service to a wider area than simply the city of Ada.

The association was formed in February 2011 when Ada Ministerial Alliance members along with area churches and charitable organizations decided to coordinate efforts to help the impoverished in the area.

“We’re moving ever closer toward identifying the needs of the people stuck in a cycle of poverty and helping them in every way we can,” said PCAA President Ken Angel. “We’re finding ways to build bridges out of poverty.”

In addition to changing the association’s name, PCAA committee members voted to move from two meetings per year to one meeting per year in March with the provision that special meetings may be called by PCAA’s president as necessary.

The election of three at-large committee members was on the agenda for the evening. Edwina Lowery was reelected while James Jackson and David Cobb were added to the roster of at-large members.

Committee members discussed a program called Charity Tracker, which can help the different agencies involved coordinate their efforts to help clients, prevent abuse of the system and keep track of clients who have abused the system in the past.

“There’s some abuse going on,” said Ada Regional United Way Executive Director Latricia Bryant. “We don’t want to punish people for abusing the system. We want to try to correct their actions and send them in the right direction.”

With proper use of the Charity Tracker system, she said agencies can find out where a client has received assistance and what the client needs. Agencies can also see the value of what they’re providing with Charity Tracker.

Of the services currently provided and tracked by agencies participating in PCAA, Bryant said over $60,000 has been utilized to help move the impoverished toward sustainability.

“If we would all start using the clearing house and Charity Tracker, that would get us all on the same team,” Angel said.

The clearing house for PCAA is the Salvation Army in Ada. Angel said that’s where potential clients are sent first in order to coordinate help the association provides.

Here's a link to the original article.

4 Oklahoma City charities join to prevent fraud

December 11, 2011

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Four nonprofit agencies in Oklahoma City have joined in an effort to prevent fraud and keep people from receiving assistance and services from more than one of the charities.

The Greater Oklahoma City Clearinghouse consists of The Salvation Army, Christmas Connection, Bethel Foundation and Skyline Urban Ministries.

"There are those that are kind of taking advantage of the system," Christmas Connection's executive director, Shelly Dutton, told The Oklahoman, "but for the most part, people are looking for help."

She said the program uses Charity Tracker computer software, which allows officials to track clients by names and birthdates. Those who signed up at more than one agency are sent back to the first charity they registered with and are not allowed to receive more aid.

Agencies pay about $185 to use Charity Tracker for a year, she said.

Christmas Connection has spotted 80 clients out of about 800 so far that already were signed up with another agency, Dutton said. About 35 of 200 clients were turned away from Skyline Urban Ministries for doubling up on charities, said Kim Parris, a site director for the Methodist charity.

"Just for this year, just for using this one program, we were able to serve 35 (more) families," Parris said.

The Bethel Foundation, which serves about 2,000 single mothers and their children, has found 25 families signed up with more than one agency this year, its founder, Lynda Powell, said.

She wishes everyone was honest, but she realizes that's not realistic and has no problem filtering out scam artists, she said.

"That's not need. That's greed," Powell said. "I have a problem with that."

Major Francina Proctor, the coordinator of women's ministries for the Central Oklahoma Area Command of The Salvation Army, said she did not know how many people had been rejected by the agency because of duplicating services. She said 1,900 families will receive help from The Salvation Army this year.

Other charities are interested in the program, Dutton said, and many have been calling to see whether it's working. She said she hopes more groups will sign on and that the system will be used for back-to-school support and Thanksgiving meals.

Here's a link to the original article.

Charity tracking system spreads to 23 counties

November 25, 2011

Associated Press

FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — An Internet system designed to track charitable giving in northwest Alabama is getting attention from other communities in the state.

The TimesDaily reports (http://bit.ly/ryEtky ) that the Charity Tracker system includes a searchable database for members and allows real-time communication, which can be useful during disasters.

Authorities say it also helps charities track those receiving help and whether individuals are seeking assistance from multiple agencies.

Mike Simon of Simon Solutions, which created the Charity Tracker system, said 23 Alabama counties are using Charity Tracker, and state government agencies have expressed an interest. He said the system is being used by more than 400 cities across the country.

Members of Loving the Shoals, a group of nonprofit organizations and government officials, met recently with Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle to demonstrate the system.

Here's a link to the original article.

Tracking site gaining interest around state

Posted: Thursday, November 24, 2011 12:00 am
Updated: 4:20 pm, Thu May 2, 2013.

Florence, Alabama

By Robert Palmer
Staff Writer

An Internet-based community communications system created in the Shoals is getting the attention of Alabama’s most technology-savvy city.

Members of Loving the Shoals, a cross-community group of nonprofit organizations and government officials, met recently with Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle and his staff to demonstrate the Charity Tracker system.

“We left the meeting with an affirmation that we could create a north Alabama care network to prepare for disaster relief,” said Mike Simon, owner of Simon Solutions, which created the Charity Tracker system.

Charity Tracker is an Internet-based information storage and communication system being used by churches, nonprofit agencies and some government agencies. It has a searchable database for members and allows real-time communication, which can be useful during disasters. It also helps charitable organizations keep track of those receiving help and whether individuals are seeking assistance from multiple agencies.

Simon said 23 Alabama counties are using Charity Tracker, and state government agencies have expressed an interest. He said the system is being used by more than 400 cities across the country.

Florence Mayor Bobby Irons took part in the meeting. He said adding Huntsville to the network would be invaluable during emergencies and disasters such as the April 27 tornadoes that ravaged northern Alabama.

“The exciting part of this is that it can network all over the state,” he said. “What would be attractive to us would be connecting all north Alabama cities.

“The track record has been that we have all helped each other in disasters. With this, we could reach out on the Internet when we’ve had a storm and need generators, for example,” he said.

Both Irons and Simon said one of Battle’s staff members heard about Charity Tracker and asked the Loving the Shoals representatives to demonstrate the system for the mayor.

Loving the Shoals grew out of the influx of refugees in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2006. Simon said local relief organizations and governments had no effective means of communicating needs with each other, and he was asked to devise an Internet-based system for real-time communication and data storage.

Irons said Alabama’s Homeland Security office has expressed an interest in the system.

Other state agencies may be interested, too, Simon said.

“The Emergency Broadcast System in Alabama did not work when it was tested a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “I hope that state government would see the potential in this system.”

Robert Palmer can be reached at 256-740-5720 or robert.palmer@TimesDaily.com.

Here's a link to the original article.