Our new website was just launched and I hope it meets your needs as a visitor and supporter of Bissell Centre. As the CEO of Bissell Centre, I believe we need to be fully engaged with the community, not only about the work we do, but about the significant issues and challenges our community faces with respect to poverty, homelessness, mental illness, addictions, and so forth.
That engagement is not only here on our website but through social media, where we are present and active on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. If you don’t follow us there, click on one of the links and please do.
Our new website is here for people seeking help, professionals who are trying to help a client, for community members who are interested in volunteering, donating, and learning more about social issues and solutions.
We will be continuing to develop the site to make additional improvements as well as expand upon resources and opportunities that may interest you and your family, colleagues, and friends. Please encourage others to visit us.
Bringing a new website to the Internet is no small feat. It involves so many working collaboratively to come up with the design, the functionality desired, and the content (narrative and images). It is also an exercise in branding and how to structure something that works for you.
I am so very grateful to the following:
Lift Interactive
On their website, the folks at Lift Interactive call themselves a “multidisciplinary team of strategists, designers, storytellers, & creative coders.” Well, it’s true. They are that, but much more. They are colleagues, friends, and collaborators par excellence! In my career, I have been involved in numerous web projects and worked with many fine people. Lift Interactive is by far the best group I have worked with. I send many thanks and our deep respect to the talents and work ethic of the entire team at Lift. I am also grateful, as is my entire team, for the generosity of the principals, Micah and Kristi Slavens for the significant “free-of-charge” contribution they committed to getting this website from a dream of ours to a reality. Bissell Centre did pay for some of the development, but Lift’s pro bono contribution went far beyond my expectations and represents the lion’s share of what the true cost was of this website. They rock! Check them out.
Devin Komarniski
Many of you might know Devin from Twitter and our other social media sites. He came to us earlier this year and is Bissell Centre’s social media specialist, though I might just change his title to “social marketing guru.” He led the way in forming our partnership with Lift Interactive, and has been our lead visionary here at Bissell in the creation of our website. Without his leadership, not to mention his hard work and stellar commitment to quality, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Rob Fragoso
Rob is our lead fund development specialist and was a key partner, with Devin and Lift, on getting this website up and running. I charged him with ensuring the online donation process was clean, easy, and secure and provided a good experience for those who wish to support us. He also played a substantive role in the design vision of the web site. He provided his time and expertise while meeting all of the many other expectations of his job here at Bissell.
Darren Brennan
Darren is a key component of our marketing and fundraising teams, and has been involved in the website design project all along the way. He’s provided his keen insight to the team, and has been quick to take on the many challenges presented by such a large undertaking. Darren will continue to play a large role in the maintenance and evolution of our new website.
Mary Higgs
To call Mary versatile would be an understatement. She is my Executive Assistant, provides unparalleled support to my board of governors, and also serves as our Special Projects Manager. As we got closer to our deadline, I asked her to help the team get all of the content up. This meant learning a new back end and project managing the significant work in providing you with the content you see on every page.
We have done our best to launch with an error-free website. You won’t find any “Under Construction” pages here (I just hate sites like that, don’t you?). However, if you see a problem or a glitch, please let us know. While we strive for perfection, we know that sometimes things go wrong and your help in knowing when that happens would be much appreciated.
Thank you,
Mark Holmgren, CEO