GiveCamp helps TexVet with online presence

(ROUND ROCK, TX) — Volunteer developers and computer programmers from across Texas gathered Sept. 28-30 for Central Texas GiveCamp 2012, where they donated their time to provide solutions for non-profit organizations including TexVet.

The weekend event in the offices of Austin development firm Headspring included designers, developers, database administrators, marketers and web strategists. Headspring employers and volunteers recruited volunteers from as far away as Dallas and Houston and selected charities that have local and statewide impact.

Two projects were selected for TexVet: automation of an online form to receive input from volunteers statewide and integration of the GI Network with the other resources TexVet offers Texas military, veterans and their families. U.S. Air Force Veteran Brandy Brown, TexVet’s community developer and manager, was inspired to volunteer and helped develop a website for Austin Partners in Education – an after-school program for children.

The two TexVet teams were “!forgotten” (“Not Forgotten,” a developer’s play on computer code) and “Data Choppers.” Working through the weekend, they provided TexVet with products and services that otherwise would be prohibitively costly to develop.

!forgotten was comprised of Sharon Cichelli, .NET developer at Headspring, open-source contributor, and author of GirlWritesCode.com; Brandon Pugh, software engineer; and Shawn Weisfeld, lead of the Dallas GiveCamp and developer of UserGroup.TV. The Data Choppers were James Culbertson, son of a Korean War veteran, web developer and owner of TurnkeyCommerce.com; and Brad Carleton, owner of TechPines.com and skilled front-end developer for computer applications.

The teams worked into the night Friday and Saturday, many travelling or staying in hotels. With football silently playing on the projector screen in the main Headspring conference room, they rushed Sunday to finish last-minute details, check with users and finish off visual elements for professional presentations.

At noon, every team submitted screenshots and their status to the coordinating volunteers. A few hours later, everyone gathered for a short award ceremony (categories included “Best Named,” “Best Dressed” and “Most Interesting Feature”), with certificates presented by Headspring CEO Dustin Wells.

Overall, 49 developers and donors like DiscountASP.NET, LosTechies, My Fit Foods and the Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations gave 1,029 hours of work for eight Texas non-profits – a more than $75,000 value. TexVet was named as a charity and benefited by having a webform encoded and external resources plotted on a live map for display on the web.

“Without the GiveCamp, we could not have afforded to automate these processes this year,” said Perry Jefferies, TexVet manager. “This weekend will make it much easier for veterans and their families to find what they need and for our volunteers to report their effort.”

Since its inception in 2007, GiveCamp has provided benefits to hundreds of charities worth millions of dollars in developer and designer time.

Headspring is a custom application development and consulting firm helping businesses leverage the maintainable custom software needed to keep competing and leading in their industries. The Austin-based company has proudly served Texas businesses since 2001. It is listed in the Austin Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” in 2012. In 2009, the company was named No. 127 on Inc. 500, the exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. For more information about software application development, visit www.headspring.com.

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Located on the Texas A&M Health Science Center Round Rock Campus, TexVet is a recognized program supporting Texas military, veterans and their families with information and referral services and by facilitating delivery of these services across traditional boundaries. It also serves as the hub for a statewide network of peer-to-peer support specialists – the first of its kind in the nation – to ensure that the state’s 1.7 million veterans and their families are able to access the benefits and resources designated for them.