Star of Hope and Technology

When people find out that I am the CIO for Star of Hope Mission I usually get inquisitive looks and questions like, "Do you guys use that many computers?"  It's a very good question because the last thing you think of when you imagine the goings on at a homeless mission is high-tech. I can tell you that technology , like in all other aspects of business, ministry and life has become a necessity in the homeless ministry environment. In fact, I would even go as far to say that with budget constraints coupled with a growing homeless population, its critical that technology is implemented to enable the work force to serve more with less manpower.

Being a part of Star of Hope Mission since 1996, I am humbled to witness daily the passion in which our Savior Jesus Christ reaches men, women and their children where they are with love , compassion, and gentle (yet radical) transformation.  

I just left the Houston Online Marketing Summit with lots of information on how the Star of Hope web team can continue to build and utilize the social media world to get our message out to the city of Houston and beyond. The conference, which is comprised of multiple sessions on various social media topics such as SEO and Performance Metrics offers sessions by online marketing leaders for very large international brands. These sessions are of course focused on best practices for business. Several times during the different sessions I attended I heard “remember, it’s all about the sale” and “it’s not about relationships, it’s about marketing”.

For the Star of Hope this is absolutely not true, yes, we do have a message to get across and yes we do need financial support to execute our mission but ultimately, it’s about the people in our community that do not have anywhere to lay their heads tonight, it’s about people who need compassion from their neighbors and it's about sharing Christ with someone you may not know by reaching out a hand.

Our online strategy will be centered on the stories of the countless people that come to our mission for refuge and rebuilding and how your support makes it happen. More importantly, If we can inspire anyone on Facebook or Twitter (and beyond ) to engage in acts of volunteerism , giving , loving and praying for the person without a home in their communities across the globe then we have utilized these wonderful tools for the ultimate good.

Discover ways to give and help Houston's homeless with Star of Hope.
Visit Donating to Charitable Organizations Houston.

Sometimes, I get a chance to get out of my normal day to day IT world and get to help out on video.  A few months back one of our wonderful donors/volunteers, Cookie Joe, and her business partner, Tran Pham Rich , (owners of Cookie Joe's School of Dancin'  located in Sugar Land, Texas) donated the money to rebuild and equip our intake center at the Women & Family Emergency Shelter. The name of the intake center is Place of Grace and one of the new features is a large flat screen television that families and homeless ladies, who are seeking services can sit and watch. The television is there to show the potential guests all the many programs and services that Star of Hope Mission offers to help them understand who we are and how much we want to help them.

Yesterday, after completing a video compilation of various elements I took the DVD over to test and play it for the first time at Place of Grace.  I was joined by a homeless lady who I did not think was paying any attention to the video. She, like countless others, was just looking for a place that would take her in and give her some relief from the Houston streets.  As the video progressed through all the various ministries of Star of Hope , she looked over at me and said that she had no idea that Star of Hope did so many things. I sat and explained a few details to her about what she had seen, all the while hoping she was inspired to become a part of the Star of Hope family and be a life changed, a life restored.

Learn more about Star of Hope and Philanthropy Opportunities Houston.

I would like to cover some technology topics in this blog as it relates to charities and missions. Before an organization of any size can leverage technology successfully I believe first and foremost in today’s economy an organization has to promote a culture of innovation and change.  The traditional model of growth, especially in the not-for-profit world, addresses growing complexities of operations and increasing amount of activity by adding labor dollars to the budget and beginning the burdensome process of hiring and retaining employees. Now, employees are great, and most of us are in the “people helping” business so it requires dedicated staff to minister to the needs of your population.  The issues arise when we take these people and have them spend much of their time doing task that support processes that have not been looked at carefully with an eye for technology and innovation.

The first step to change is identifying what is happening now. When you ask for a report from one of your programs, how does it get produced? Do your case workers and counselors have to gather post-it notes , interpret a volunteers handwriting, and work all night to make something look pretty and hopefully close to accurate? Or do they click a button and send you a link to a report that’s easily read and customizable? Its important to identify how things get done.

It would be worth it, if you haven't done it in a while, to set aside 2011 to document what is going on. Start with the core departments like finance, development and work your way to the maintenance department. Once things are identified the proverbial low hanging fruit will stand out and you can make simple changes that have a high impact. Eventually you will want someone, be it a volunteer, a group of grad students that are working on a project or a hired professional to help you identify the innovative changes you need to make that will help you spend your precious payroll dollars wisely.

Here are some helpful links
Technology for non-profits www.techsoup.org
Documenting your processes http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ar-procdoc/

Learn more about Star of Hope Mission at Volunteer Jobs Houston or Supporting Homeless Shelters Houston

If you get a chance to read Hank's blog from last week please do. I got a chance to sit in on the video interview and was struck by the two children that are part of this family living at the Women and Family Shelter .  They are such great kids and its heart breaking to think they could be homeless on the streets. I am also taken back by the giving heart of Houstonians, and the safety they provide for these kids and the rest of the families just like them staying in our facilities. (Check out the Youtube video) . 

Just a note: I just looked up the Most Giving Cities in the USA and guess where Houston ranked. 

Learn more about Houston Homeless Shelters and Charity Houston

I am taking this moment to pause, reflect and be thankful. We have been blessed this year with not only an overwhelming quantity (52) computers,  but high quality of computers.
 
Earlier this year Friendswood Community Church donated $15k to our Men's Computer Learning Center which gave us the opportunity to create a modern business environment for guys that are in the program to learn business computing skills and locate jobs.  Harper Pearson, the prestigious accounting firm, donated 12 almost new computers to be used at our House of Hope computer lab which benefits the homeless children living at our Women and Family Center. The wonderful folks at Aaron's Rental  just delivered 21 excellent computers to replace all the computers at our Transitional Living Center which is used to serve our client population that are in the long term program.

Finding good quality computers to equip both our clients and staff is a difficult task. I am just thankful that our Heavenly Father stirs the hearts of generous people for the things we desperately need. It happens over and over and I am so thankful.

God Bless,
A

Yesterday, I was entering a CVS store to purchase batteries when I noticed sitting down away from the front entrance a homeless person. In all my years I had never seen someone so affected by the streets , she was covered in dirt, torn dirty clothing, barefoot and both her arms were in casts. Someone had bought her an ice cream which she was frantically trying to eat as the Houston heat melted it away, I was crushed at the site.

I have been in similar situations where I was preoccupied, disconnected and maybe thought my giving a dollar or two would provide help, but not this time.  I approached her and told her that I was torn up on the inside and that I wanted to help her anyway I could .  She turned and looked at me with the biggest eyes I have ever seen and said "Mr., I am just waiting on God to get me out of this mess. If He is real I know He will save me." Obviously, that response spoke to me and put the responsibility back on me as a child of God to be the hands of Christ. I sat down and had a conversation with this sweet soul and found out about her journey from cheerleader in Jacksonville Florida where she grew up. “I was pretty back then,” she exclaimed several times as she reflected on a life of tragedy and brokenness. She told me the way I could help her was to get her to the Star of Hope where they had helped her in the past. This blessed me to no end because I had not told her that I worked for Star of Hope and it confirmed in my heart that the Good Shepherd was still actively protecting and growing the flock.

I called the Star of Hope Women and Family Emergency Shelter where I made arrangements to get Robin to the shelter and as soon as we walked in the door the attendant at the desk  made immediate arrangements for shower, food and fresh clothing. I left her in good hands and said my goodbyes to Robin who is forever etched into my heart.

Please join with me and pray for Robin and the thousands just like her all over Houston. They aren’t a group of people called "The Homeless",  they are individuals, consciously or unconsciously waiting for God to get them out of this mess.

In the past, when people were homeless, or in an emergency situation such as domestic violence they would find their way to the doors of our shelters where they would be received by open arms and the services that would help improve their circumstances. Our staff were geared towards working those front doors, tending to the crowds in the intake centers and having face to face time with the people who have so many critical needs. These days, with the online world growing rapidly and electronic communication exploding, it seems that more people are calling in for help and/or using our web site to find services. In December of 2009 Star of Hope received 32,000 inbound phone calls. Many of these calls were volunteers and donors who were looking for information on how they could help but most were people seeking services for themselves or desperately seeking help for a loved one. We receive an increasing number emails daily from people who are trying to find help or seeking help for a family or friend.

Exciting news for us. We have been planning a Call Center for the past several months that will help us connect people seeking services with a live voice when they call. A voice that can get them the help they are seeking, someone who can minister to the needy, someone who will pray and guide.

Perhaps the most exciting news about this Call Center project is it will be staffed with volunteers! These volunteers will be trained thoroughly on how to connect our callers to the services they need. 

Please pray for this effort since it will take tremendous resources to be the high impact unit we expect it to be and if you would like to volunteer be on the look out for the posting at High Impact Volunteer Jobs Houston or email me at aholmes@sohmission.org.
 

Friendswood Community Church has blessed our organization with 15,000 dollars to refurbish our Computer Learning Center at the Men's Development Center.   Today applications and tools are on the Internet so we are moving away from our old fat client desktop computer model that loaded down the desktop with applications like typing tutorials and Microsoft Office applications model to a web tools based model that will take advantage of free Google Applications such as Google Docs and Microsoft Office Live. The men will be taught how to find and leverage resources on the Internet to build resumes and find jobs. During the course of their stay they keep journals and document their life history all of which will be saved secure online so when they leave they will know how to access their data from any computer.  I was pleased to find out that the men that work in our labs are serious and dedicated to skills building and are committed to learning about computers and the Internet. Many of these men have never had the opportunity to own or even touch a computer and we all know that even basic jobs will leave these guys behind if they don't have this opportunity.

We are so thankful for the donation and we are going to use the opportunity to bring an experience to our clients that will continue to change their lives for the better.

Learn more about Star of Hope and how you can help by visiting Charitable Organizations Houston.

If you are looking for a way to help a homeless shelter you may be reading this blog. Your used computer whether personal or business can be recycled to benefit Star of Hope Mission. We use computers to run the business portion of the mission but we also are in need of computers that will help teach a homeless child to read, or help a homeless adult find work. Our computer labs are a great resource for anyone who we serve.

The next time you upgrade your business computers or replace that family home computer please think of Star of Hope Mission. We can help recycle the equipment to insure that all your business or personal data is clean before we use it. 

Right now we are trying to raise money for our Computer Learning Centers at all three of our facilities. If you are interested please check us out at Homeless Services Houston.