More than a website

The last couple days my co-workers have just seen me stressed about a “web data migration” but they really don’t understand what I am talking about in the new "website". Harmony in communications told me the other day she was telling her friend about our new “up-coming website" and he can’t understand why she is so excited about a website. And my “web developer” does so much more then building a website, but we have yet to determine a title that fits what he does that people understand, so he stays stuck with web developer.

All this to say, those of us involved in this project are actually really excited about it. But just calling it a website, well, that doesn’t really cut it. This is certainly web 2.0. When I think of a website, like last night I was on the Pier 1 website looking at dining room chairs, I’m there for information. What’s in the store and what is the closest store available and is there enough of what I want to make me drive over. What we are building provides information, but hopefully it connects you in your soul to doing something greater than yourself. Hopefully it inspires you and lets you know that YOU can do something big for a particular community.

I must say, my friends at The Man Can deserve high kudos for their time and brains. Brett and Fred have been working round the clock on front and back-ends. Harmony and I are frantically trying to move over data. Only it isn’t cut and paste. You have to use your brain.

So we can’t wait to launch – hopefully this week. We welcome your feedback when we do.

The most we can say now is that we hope it will be a place you enjoy visiting on a regular basis. We hope that partner projects around the world will be highlighted in new ways. We won’t focus much on GCH as an organization, but tried to pull ourselves out and connect you better to our partners. We hope that people who want to make a difference but don’t know how will have the tools to equip them and that this will be more of a community of people working together than a website.

As I just returned from Peru and meeting with Dr. Gabriel in the jungles I had the first-hand experience to understand why this community needs a hand-up. I’m inspired by their project and inspired to give to it. However, if you visit a website you might not get the sense of what has been accomplished and what next steps are and why it's so important. The hope is, our new design will somehow help you to understand Dr. Gabriel’s community without going there and inspire you to volunteer or donate to assist him as he cares for the health needs of the community. It pulls me out of it and instead displays Dr. Gabriel. And who knows, maybe we'll have people that want to connect with partner organization Mercy Homes and go visit Dr. Gabriel. We'd welcome that type of interaction.

So, here’s to a new on-line world, and that’s really what it is. It’s more than a website, it’s a community of inspiration and change!