NIX Lends a Hand: How we Developed a Website to Coordinate Volunteers’ Actions during the COVID-19 Outbreak

The challenges of the modern world require decisive action. That’s why NIX has engaged in the local non-profit initiative and developed an online platform that helps people affected by coronavirus pandemic to find help from local volunteers. The first website was launched in St. Pete, FL, and now NIX is ready to create a similar resource for other cities in any state at no cost. Here is the story about how it all went down.

NIX has always been more than just an independent tech company. We see ourselves as a part of a larger local community and value our relations with neighbors. We regularly announce our readiness to help small local companies, volunteer groups, NGOs and non-profit organizations, because we value what they do and feel like together we can bring important changes to our community.

Some time ago a group of volunteers, St. Pete Together, from St. Petersburg, FL, reached us out and gave us an idea to develop a website together with them, which will help connect volunteers and people who need their help.

We envisioned an easy to navigate site where people and businesses could find resources, request support, and offer to volunteer. To make the vision a fast reality, we knew we needed an awesome development partner, so we reached out to our friends at NIX. They had the site live within two weeks. Check it out at www.stpetetogether.com. NIX’s generosity and team spirit is a great example of what it means for a business to give back to its community.

Robyn Rusignuolo
Co-Founder at SoleVenture, Inc., Volunteer at St. Pete Together

The guys explained their idea, provided all the content and expressed their readiness to manage the website during the pandemic. The NIX web development team took on the task and delivered a fully functioning platform just within 9 days.

On the Platform

St. Pete Together is building a space to match those with local resources to those who need support during the COVID-19 crisis. In cooperation with the volunteer group, NIX has created a platform for volunteers who have the power, desire and time to help people affected by the threat of coronavirus infection. Either you’re a doctor who needs a babysitter for your kids, or an elderly person who cannot leave the house, or you need a consultation from a lawyer, you can go to the website — stpetetogether.com — and find a volunteer who can provide you with the assistance you need.

At the same time, if you feel like you have enough resources to provide help, you can register at the platform as a volunteer and choose a category you fit in:

• Babysitting,
• Donations,
• Education,
• Errands,
• Financial Planning,
• Legal,
• Medical,
• Organizing,
• Technological,
• Training.

Both individual users and companies alike can register as volunteers.

The website also provides a collection of helpful resources from the official sources with reliable information about:

• coronavirus pandemic,
• statistics,
• and actions to be taken to protect yourself.

The FAQ section helps to quickly find answers to the most popular questions. There is also an opportunity to open a discussion on any topic and get the opinions of other users.

On the Development Process

Just as with any other regular project, we faced certain difficulties developing this web platform. Of course, the main reason was the lack of time. We understood that the result has to be delivered within the shortest terms, and tried to do our best to reach the goal as soon as possible. In order to deliver the platform in time, we decided not to follow our regular flow, but to choose a shortcut scenario, however, without loss of quality and functionality. We knew that people need help already today, so our developers were ready to work overtime too. The Project Manager always stayed in touch with the guys from St. Pete Together, providing them with the updates and letting them know how the work flows.

Before contacting us, St. Pete Together had already had a certain image of how the platform should look like and what functions it should provide. We created the first mock-ups according to their requirement specification, however, had quickly realized that this functionality does not cover all the needs. We suggested certain improvements and explained why they were needed and how the platform could benefit from them.

To be able to offer the full spectrum of functions we had to correctly define a user and admin flow, that is getting a complete understanding of how the website user and the platform administrator will act. The team did that throughout a thorough analysis and smoke testing of the existing functionality.

Working united as one team, the NIX team together with the St. Pete Together team was able to deliver an effective and fully-functional website within a brief period of time.

What’s Next?

The website has been functioning less than a month, but has already proved its usefulness and relevance: St. Pete Together receives a dozen volunteer applications every day, and even more requests for help from local people. We are happy that we gained a chance to be a part of such a helpful initiative and hope the platform will continue functioning as a space where people can get free help even when the pandemic ends.

NIX perfectly understands the importance of the current situation and is ready to offer its resources to facilitate all efforts against the spread of the COVID-19. Therefore, after the release of www.stpetetogether.com, we decided to launch our non-profit initiative in cooperation with non-profit organizations and volunteer groups in other regions in Florida and from other states.

At no cost, we will develop a similar website that will help unite your community, coordinate local efforts and provide reliable information. Contact us today, and our experts will provide you with a demo version of the platform and explain how to adjust it to your needs. Let’s get through this together!