Community Leaders Needed

Contact Us

What We Need From You

  • Official communication to us indicating the organization’s interest in using the app
    1. To meet the growing need of the application caused by COVID-19, we want to provide a complete package as soon as possible. Every official statement of interest helps this project grow by displaying the need that exists for it. As support has grown we have been able to attract more volunteers to assist in development and outreach. (If possible, we request that this communication be provided on official organization letterhead)
  • List of volunteers who can serve as dispatchers, including: names, phone numbers, and email addresses
    1. Dispatchers are the brains of StayNeighbor community operations. This is a position that can be done remotely, all they would need is a device with an internet connection. Their role would be to assist in matching needs to available resources, and providing logistic support to drivers while they carry out deliveries.
  • List of volunteers who can serve as delivery/pickup drivers (including: names, phone numbers, and email addresses)
    1. Where dispatchers are the brains, delivery and pickup drivers are the hands and feet of the StayNeighbor operation. They will be the ones in the field bringing supplies where they need to be in a safe and efficient manner.
  • The information of a liaison to serve as the primary point of contact for their community (including: name, phone, and email address)
    1. At its deepest root, StayNeighbor is a tool for uniting communities to support each other in this time of need. By having a member of a community handling communication to their areas, we are able to add a deeper level of humanity to our work. We are neighbors helping neighbors

Executive Summary

     StayNeighbor is an open-source community mobilization tool, made by volunteers for volunteers, designed to connect those with means to those with needs in a safe, healthy, and organized way during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the spread of COVID-19 continues to increase at an exponential rate, it is imperative that preventative measures be widely adopted to reduce the burden of disease and flatten the curve. Social distancing and self-quarantining are powerful methods for lowering the incidence of COVID-19 cases. In order to optimize the effectiveness of these methods, they must continually and thoroughly be practiced across entire communities to mitigate transmission. However, over time supplies will dwindle, and financial resources will run low as many are left unable to work. Yet, amidst these uncertain times, we at StayNeighbor have seen champions emerge, seeking ways to serve their communities where it is needed most all across the world! It is evident that the desire to provide aid is abundant, but what is the best way to go about offering it?

     This is where StayNeighbor comes in. Our network allows communities to pool together human and material resources into a system that will match those with specific resources to those in need of resources, and coordinate delivery logistics through volunteers and community organizations. With StayNeighbor, we aim to protect the populations that are most vulnerable to COVID-19 by ensuring that they can be provided for in a way that will lower their risk of COVID-19 exposure to the lowest degree possible. We wish to make prolonged quarantines more feasible by providing those with possible/confirmed COVID-19 cases the resources needed to go about life, without compromising quarantine protocols. We strongly believe in this vital component, because a neighbor that stays distanced is a neighbor that provides one less opportunity for virus transmission.

     Our system focuses on a lean design approach to connect providers and recipients in a simple yet effective management system. We have designed a flexible tool such that any qualified local organizations/agencies will be able to take ownership and run StayNeighbor independently through volunteers in their own communities. In these challenging times we must all understand that our actions can and will have a significant impact on those around us, so let’s do all we can to ensure that impact will be one of support, one we can be proud of, one that will leave our communities even stronger than before.  

StayNeighbor Support Letter - Template

I [name], the (title/position) of (name of organization), acknowledge a growing need for community support during the COVID-19 pandemic. The utility of an application that is able to aggregate the availability of resources, effectively pair it to a need, and coordinate the delivery to where it is needed in a safe and healthy manner has immense potential to benefit my community.

Furthermore, I understand that StayNeighbor is an entirely volunteer made and volunteer-run application and that there will be absolutely no monetary costs to access and use the StayNeighbor application.

In accordance with the requests of StayNeighbor, (name of organization) will provide the following in a timely manner:

  • A list of volunteers who can serve as dispatchers (including: names, phone numbers, and email addresses)
  • A list of volunteers who can serve as delivery/pickup drivers (including: names, phone numbers, and email addresses)
  • The information of a volunteer to serve as the point of contact for their community (including: name, phone, and email address)
  • A release of liability for the utilization of the StayNeighbor application

In signing this letter on behalf of (name of organization) I am providing my showing of support for StayNeighbor, and look forward to being a part of the kindness and compassion that StayNeighbor will facilitate in my community.

StayNeighbor At A Glance

Who is behind this?

Sam Hilsman (Wilmington, NC) – Originator, System Design and Community Relations
Sean Dolan (Katy, TX) – Originator, Branding, Outreach and Media Relations
Patrick Willetts (Wilmington, NC) – Software Architect
Ahad Sagheer (Washington, DC) – Lead Developer
Anthony Vespoli (Alexandria, VA) – Lead Developer
Dillon Harless (Wilmington, NC) – Lead Developer
Kyle Wilson (Arlington, VA) – Lead Developer
Chaa Loftin (Wilmington, NC) – Developer
Andrew Minutella (Wilmington, NC) – Developer
Hamza Farrukh (Connecticut) – Developer
Ian Green (Wilmington, NC) – Developer
Kelly Haviland (Wilmington, NC) – Project Management/Social Media
Amy Rodriguez (Manassas, VA) – Project Management
Caroline Leopold (Philadelphia, PA) – PR/Marketing Lead
Brian Snyder (Baltimore, MD) – Lead Graphic Designer
Sam Archbold – Lead Content Creation
Bob Peck (Austin, TX) – Videographer
Beth Pollak (Atlanta, GA) – User Adoption/Community Outreach
Girard Newkirk (Wilmington, NC) – User Adoption/Community Outreach
Joel Harder – User Adoption/Community Outreach
Anisa Maani (Wilmington, NC) – Community Outreach
Rebecca Trammel (Wilmington, NC) – New Hanover County Liaison
Brian LaFrance (Texas) – Project Consultant
Marcus Lewis (Wilmington, NC) – Project Consultant