Websites for charities are a great thing, and working with Alford Chronicle was no exception!
During the start of Covid 19 the people of Alford, Lincolnshire needed a place to get together and talk. Unfornelltly due to the first UK lockdown that was not possible. A Facebook group was created, and it was named the Alford Hub. It is an officially registered COVID-19 Community Hub and Mutual Aid for Alford, Lincolnshire.
They work in partnership with Alford Town Council, Alford Group of Churches, the Storehouse Foodbank, the schools, Merton Lodge Doctors, Llyods Pharmacy, and other officially recognised bodies to ensure the wellbeing due to COVID-19. This partnership is also the only volunteering hub insured by Lincolnshire County Council in Alford.
They support the vulnerable, shielding and elderly people in their community through prescription collections, food deliveries, telephone support and a Facebook group which acts as a virtual community centre, where you can chat, share ideas and stay connected, so you don’t feel so alone. The group posts official information from trusted sources so that fake news is not spread.
The Alford hub is run entirely by volunteers.
Alford Hub – Facebook Group – About Page
Before Focused All Day, what was their problem?
Alford Hub has ~1.7k members on its Facebook group but can only pin one bit of news to its Facebook page at any one point in time. This meant the volunteers who run the Facebook page were asked the same questions repeatedly. They would either have to type the answer out again or write ‘search the group’. Either option was not good!
Although the social learning hub brought in new members, once there it was limiting and challenging to provide the information they once hoped for. They were limited on how much they could write in a Facebook post and needed a place where everyone could get together and blog about their experiences of COVID-19.
How Focused All Day solved the problem
- Registered the domain name.
- Researched websites for charities and found this needed to be different. We went with a newspaper style website.
- The web design built allowed multiple members to post and for others in the community to comment.
How Focused All Day made their online community better
- Members of the group were able to discover new posts and search easily for past posts.
- The volunteers of Alford were able to post in-depth stories about their experiences during the COVID 19 crisis.
- The website was easy to navigate and works great on a variety of devices (mobile, tablet and desktop)
Features Focused All Day is incredibly proud of
I am happy to have this part of my web design portfolio as:
- A readable experience by using complementary fonts and colours.
- A continuous design layout makes it easier to go between blogs.
- A very easy to use navigation bar breaking down the news into appropriate categories.
- Easy to maintained and allows for multiple volunteers to blog.
It was fun working on this project, and working for websites for charities is always rewarding.
