Giving Back to the Community
Whether you call it giving back or paying it forward, I like to help out my community when I can. One recent example of this is the opportunity I had to assist with the Attitudes and Attire Annual Luncheon and Fashion Show. The organization’s website management company, MPD Ventures, had lost a web developer as they were working on fixing the integration between the outdated Joomla Virtuemart shopping cart and their payment gateway. They needed the raffle and luncheon tickets up on the website ASAP. MPD contacted me and asked if I could help.
While assessing the situation, I discovered that the Merchant Services/Payment Gateway is the same one that I had used previously. Instead of trying to burn hours on fixing the shopping cart, I came up with a solution to use the page builder within the Payment Gateway that would allow us to embed payment buttons into the website, similar to Paypal. While I did that MPD created the page and added the copy and then let me know where they wanted the buttons. The end result was attitudesandattire.org/donate/ I was more than happy to donate my time and knowledge to an organization that helps empower women.
That’s part of what appeals to me with my team members as well. Each of them gives back to the community in different ways. Sandy and I met serving on the board of directors for Love for Kids. Morgan has donated hours of her time starting Toastmasters clubs and mentoring members and Debi has been involved in setting up an ongoing Red Cross blood drive for her previous employer. As Authentic Web Solutions grows, I hope to continue to give back to the community in different ways.
What about you? How are you giving back to your community or paying it forward?