Purposely Repurposes for COVID-19

When I woke up last Tuesday, I felt like I was in a movie. The text "DAY ONE" panned across the bottom of the screen. I felt anxious. How long will this last? How much will my life change?

I won't be leaving home to catch a bus at 8:14am anymore. Who knows when I'll see my office desk next? Who knows when I'll see my mom & dad in person next?

Since then, every day it has sunk in deeper that my life has been fundamentally altered.

And so far, I'm one of the lucky ones. Every day, at-risk people need help. And I've been blown away by the generosity and love that has poured out of my home city of Vancouver.

And at Purposely, the little tech startup I work for, we've been talking about how we can help.

It seems that everyone in Vancouver is like us - as a city, we’re doing some soul-searching right now and trying to figure out how we can help our neighbours in need. And I see that happening all over the world.

Meanwhile, a huge number of people are at-risk and need the support of others to get through this tough time safely. Foodbanks still need to get food to people - now more than ever. Seniors need medication. And everyone needs opportunities to exercise and be social.

It's daunting. The scale of need is unprecedented in Vancouver and beyond.

And at Purposely we realized that we have something to offer. We might be able to help in a really exciting way.

Purposely is a volunteer platform, with tools for people to find volunteer opportunities, and for organizations to find and manage volunteers. We love what we've built and the platform has grown quickly over the past year.

But in an era of COVID-19, the world needs something different.

So, we set about re-purposing Purposely. We've totally overhauled the site, using the existing framework and tools we built, but redesigning everything so we can facilitate helpers helping and people in need getting what they need.

And we didn't do it on our own. We've been blown away by the collaborative spirit of our fellow Vancouverites. The amazing teams at Buddy Systems and Coming Together Vancouver have helped us along the way so we can make sure we're building something meaningful & helpful.

We're proud of the work we've done over the past week. But most importantly, we're honoured and humbled to be able to serve our community with a set of totally free digital tools.

I really hope we can help people get what they need and help their neighbours. You can sign up to help out, or sign up to request help, at purposely.ca.

So, it’s time to help, Vancouver. It’s time for all of us to ask ourselves what we’re doing for our neighbours, and to bring everything we can to the table.

And if you’re in need, reach out! So many of us want to help you get through this difficult time.

Here's to you, Vancouver: to community, to selfless service, to love & compassion.

And to everyone, everywhere:

We'll get through this together.

Head over to purposely.ca to post your offer or ask, and reach out to me at amcgowan@purposely.ca if you have questions, feedback, and support.