Helpific World - helping to build communities
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Helpific has affiliated with eight countries - how are they doing?
According to Zsolt Bugarszki, Director of International Operations: “Helpific has teams in eight countries, all in very different stages and at different levels of activities. Matchmaking has occurred in 5 countries (Estonia, Hungary, Ukraine, Croatia and US). In the Netherlands a University is working on the adaptation of the concept in the UK, after the first unsuccessful attempt with the disability/mental health target group, we are preparing a more general approach and in Finland we are still seeking for the right format and more human resources, but we are present.”
Helpific gets a warm welcome in America!
Ashley Misleh, Helpific’s International correspondent in America, says that the United States is still testing Helpific, but so far the feedback has been very good.
Helpific Massachusetts continues to increase in registrations and web traffic. We were excited about the many fall and winter fairs and workshops where we could represent Helpific as a one stop click for help and volunteerism. We are expecting that with the launch of the 2.0 version of our website we will have an increase in user usage, as well as capturing the attention of new users.
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| Helpific volunteers Tom and Bailey |
The month of December was exciting for Helpific-Massachusetts, as we went to our first conference and held an exhibit. The Assistive Technology Conference of New England in Rhode Island, was put on by TechACCESS, a program out of H.M.E.A in Hudson MA. We were overwhelmed and motivated by the intriguing questions and positive feedback we received from social workers and company representatives. We were invited to a number of Conferences within in the next year, and are looking forward to see what develops there. The big show stoppers were our newly designed website as well as videos of some of our Helpific members and volunteers from Estonia.
We’ve seen an increase in viewing and engagements within our social media accounts. We attribute this to local (Hudson, MA) networking, the Twitter community and our exhibit in the beginning of the month. We are hoping to see strong community outreach develop using the Helpific platform this season. Winter is cold, tough and can be isolating. We will be keying in on these topics often this month, as well as a decline in accessibility and what community members can do about it.
We asked Ashley some questions and you can see here answers here.
Helpific Hungary started to grow steadily!
Over the last few months, Helpific started to grow steadily in Hungary. There were 7 new help requests that were submitted within a few weeks and 6 of them received answers. Most of the help requests were from Budapest but we also had requests from the countryside.
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| Current statistics of Hungary |
We conducted an interview with Gábor, who lives in a small group home in Szolnok county and his helper Judit who answered Gábor's request as they met in August.
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| ”We had a small shopping tour in Kecskemét” - told Gabor |
Judit: “I saw Gábor's help request on a Facebook post, this is how I found Helpific. I am a certified special education assistant but I do not work in this profession, I work with laser machines. I miss experiences with people. When we met we drove to Kecskemét, we did some shopping and walked in the city since Gábor missed the atmosphere of large cities and being among people. He only needed help to get in and out of the car and getting into his wheelchair. The meeting was a very positive experience for me. Gábor is an open, funny and very intelligent guy. I am glad that I had the opportunity to try something new for myself. People who use Helpific can enrich their lives with new experiences, I highly recommend using it.”
Gábor: “I am Gábor, a 32 years old guy with a physical disability. I posted a help request on Helpific because I felt very isolated, living in a group home in Szolnok county and I wanted to get out, being among people. I have a few friends, they take me out at times but their life is too busy. I thought that on Helpific I could find new people. To register on the platform was very easy. I got advised not to post personal information, phone number, e-mail address, etc. Helpific's team helped me to spread out my help request by posting it on their Facebook page. I just wrote a few sentences and they posted it. And within a few days, I received an answer. After our first online conversation, I knew that I could completely trust her. And this impression became even stronger when we met in person. First, we both were a bit nervous I guess, but Judit is very easy going, she even gave a ride to one of my friends, the drive was the beginning of a fun day. I was a bit concerned if Judit could carry me to the wheelchair, but she was very clever. We had a small shopping tour in Kecskemét, we went to the bookstore, and also to a Café. For me, the most memorable moment was when we were walking in the downtown and we had a nice chat. There I already had a feeling that we had known each other for years. I can highly recommend using Helpific to find new friends. I believe that this was not the last meeting with Judit. She is an extraordinary person.”
The project started in June. The new version of the platform was translated and a Attorney at Law was contacted to master the Croatian version of the Terms of Use.The Croatian team delivered a design of a video as well as offline materials for presentations. Every week at least one post was posted on the Helpific Croatia facebook page. The biggest excitement was the very first registration with a help request for learning the Chinese language. The Chinese teacher replied and – woo! We were happy to have the first matchmaking before the official campaign had started.
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| The Helpific Croatian Team - Dalibor, Andrea, Ada |
A public presentation was held on December 11th. Feedback from the presentation was affirmative and supportive. The question about security of vulnerable people was raised many times. The project was presented at local television Jabuka.tv in Zagreb.
Helpific Croatia is excited to intensify the campaign and reach the goal of the project and learn from it.
Katalin Vikuk, The Team Leader: “In 2017 the Helpific UK team was born with Peter joining the initiative. In 2018 we aim to grow the team bigger and kick start our community project in two areas of London, Southwark and Tottenham. We are going to create instantly inclusive communities where everyone counts and no one is left behind.”
But who is Peter? Read more!
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| Peter Balazs: "Every day is a bonus!" |
In 2017 Helpific Ukraine was presented in different forums and conferences (All Ukrainian Forum «Children in an anxious environment: practice of development and retrieval», 10th Annual Youth Forum Zavtra.UA, ect.). The team had a meeting with NGOs and foundations, where future cooperation with Helpific was discussed. There was a meeting organized between Anton Dubishin and students of Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Anton spoke about disabled people and why they are different from other people as well as what problems they face and how they feel.
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| 10th Annual Youth Forum Zavtra.UA, May 2017 |
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| Anton Dubishin and students of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, October 2017 |
“Who is my neighbour?” - A short story about the importance of living a life of “Community”, by Ashley Misleh - Helpific Team USA
Helpific’s mission is to promote the independent coping of those people, who need support in their community. Our web-based support environment connects the volunteers and paid services with everyday needs such as transportation, attending events and household chores. We are counting on the generosity of people end enterprises like You who have a community-based mentality.
Please help to create a quick and reliable person-to-person solution, the result of which would be stronger and more caring communities, by making a donation today. Helpific is on the list of non-profit organizations with tax concession since 01.07.2016. HELPIFIC MTÜ, Reg nr: 80380146 Account No EE102200221061303677 SWEDBANK, SWIFT code/BIC: HABAEE2X |
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