Relief efforts in the Internet age
"The technology being as it is, it’s very easy to change with our skill set," says Hit Catcher’s vice president Adam Wells. "It’s what we do for a living as a company... We’ve had host families contact us and say, I’d love to put up a family of four, or, someone who has drafting and architectural background, and that got our wheels spinning and we added an employment feature." While he concedes that function is basic, it does tie in with the increasing number of employers who are offering positions to displaced people.
"The best way to define it is that it’s a work in progress, and it’s really based on the needs in the community and we’re trying to weigh out the benefits of adding all the little tools," he adds.
"What we’re hoping, is that the way this site is designed, families in need will be able to contact host families directly, without having us to act as a middleman for obvious kind of lag time problems," says Wells. "We want people to be able to contact a family that will be a good fit for them directly."
Those with space to share can register on the site or register by providing information such as the home’s location; number of rooms available; preferable length of stay; whether the home is appropriate for children and/or pets; and other pertinent information. Individuals and families searching for housing can search by several criteria, including state, town, number of rooms available, whether children are welcome, and more. Searchers can then contact potential hosts by e-mail to inquire further.
With an generous outpouring of support on the part of would-be host families, the challenge is to reach out to the displaced people. Wells says the compay is working to coordinate with local charity groups, and state representative on the Gulf Coast area to promote the cause. They’re finding success through local charity groups such as Rotary, they’ve contacted all Rotary chapters in the area, Wells says.
Massachusetts leads the list as the state with the most homes available, with New Hampshire second and Texas - where there’s a great deal of need - is third. :We were able to get on some radio shows down in Texas, and spread the word down there," Wells said last week, commenting that so far they had had no success getting through to radio stations in Baton Rouge.
Wells points out that Hit Catcher created MyFamilyCanHelp.com as a tool to help unite people left homeless by Katrina with potential hosts. The company does not provide any additional service, or take any role in facilitating the process. Hit Catcher requires hosts to agree to terms of use, which include a disclaimer, as part of the registration process. In addition, Wells says Hit Catcher is working to partner with another company to help hosts access an optional background check service directly from MyFamilyCanHelp.com.
The site deliberately refrains from asking for confidential information that could lead to ID theft. "We were very careful to design the site around asking only for non-pertinent information," Wells says. "It asks for your location and your name but other than that we don’t get into mother’s maiden name or Social Security number, and I’d be very skeptical about [operations that] asked for that up front."
However, he says, he thinks background checks are not an unreasonable thing for a host family to ask. Hit Catcher is seeking to partner with one of two different companies to do free or discounted background checks. When they do, Wells says, they’ll add the information to their frequently-asked questions list. "I just don’t think that’s unreasonable if you’re offering to put up a family of five for the next 12 months," Wells says.
For information about MyFamilyCanHelp.com, visit the website or call Hit Catcher, Inc. at (508) 234-0399.
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