![]() The basic design of the app is laid out and Abagail has an idea of what it will look like. Spark in the Dark is working with TC New Tech and M5fourteen Consulting to produce the app. Now nonprofits and grant givers like Rotary and the United Way will be able to look at that data and know where to direct their grants.” “There will be a sort of net built into the app that will be able to tell me 7,336 people asked for car repair needs this year in the area. Abagail will have access to data from the Spark in the Dark app that will help her and Spark a lot. The app will connect users just like the community Facebook page does, but with the added benefit of being able to track what people need most. Phase 1 of developing the Spark in the Dark app is completed. Not to mention, Facebook is making a lot of money off of us with marketing and everything else.” “With 10,000 members and 13,000 posts a year and 149,000 comments over the course of the year…trying to manage all of that, even with the three of us it’s a lot. With the platform, which will be in the form of a smartphone app, that process will be easier and more streamlined. “We have created a culture the best we can within Facebook, but it was always meant to be kind of a pilot, right? It was testing a theory, and now we realize that we’ve made an entirely new model and an entire new way of doing things.”Īpproving every member and post that will go up in Spark in the Dark is a long and tedious process that Abagail and her fellow admins Jennifer Donohue and Jennifer Morneau have to do to keep the group community oriented. Abagail does not want this scenario to happen in Spark in the Dark, which is why she is taking steps to develop a platform that gets the group off Facebook. Someone had advertised animals for sale on the page and because this goes against Facebook community page guidelines, the page is under review. Recently another popular, local Facebook group, Overheard in TC, got frozen out by Facebook because of a broken community guideline. Because of the group’s popularity, people started donating money to the group knowing that the money would help someone somewhere, and Abagail decided that it was time for Spark in the Dark to become a real nonprofit.īecause Spark in the Dark is on Facebook, it is subjected to Facebook’s rules. Spark in the Dark filed to become a nonprofit in 2017. Spark in the Dark ranges within a 60 mile radius of Traverse City. The rules are simple take what you need not what you want, be specific in what you need, explain why you need it and state your general location. People have received furniture, baby needs and even propane from reaching out in the group. Many people have benefited from Spark in the Dark in a huge way. When Abagail woke up the next morning around 350 people had already requested to join Spark in the Dark. 25 I knew that need help and 25 I knew that had the means to help but maybe hadn’t considered that they could help somebody. Abagail woke up the next morning and knew that she would utilize the internet to be the medium for connection. In the dream she was told to connect people. Abagail went home that night and had what she calls The God Dream. The young woman was moved by the older woman’s kindness, and so was Abagail. There’s nothing in my house and I don’t even care!’ And this established woman she’s talking to tells her that she’s had a twin bedroom set sitting in her garage for years, and she’ll have her husband drop it off to her tomorrow.” “She told the woman, ‘I’m sleeping on the floor with a pillow and a blanket. The young woman was telling the older woman about being freshly out of an abusive relationship and finally getting in to her first tiny, shoe box apartment on her own. To Abagail’s right was another set of women, an older and younger woman. It becomes a process instead of a connection.” She found out she really won’t get to meet any direct clients because of HIPPA policies and all of these rules and restrictions. They were filling out all this paperwork, background checks, and licenses and weekend trainings that take hours and hours and then she ended up on her first volunteer day, I think it was stocking food pantry items. “To the left of me were these women who wanted to volunteer. The inspiration to start Spark came when Abagail was in a bible study class. Abagail is the founder and executive director of Spark and she’s proud of how far the group has come since its birth in 2015. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Abagail on Tuesday. ![]() From left Jared McKiernan, Abagail Courtney, Jenn Donohue, Jennifer Morneau, Andrew Morneau.
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