Help Literacy Hub

#1 reason why Gather My Crew is better than a Whatsapp group

AUTHOR: Dr Susan Palmer

I was challenged this week to explain why Gather My Crew is a better solution for supporting people than using Whatsapp…

They were thinking… if you have a group of people that want to help, then why can’t you just create a Whatsapp group and put a call out for help?

The missing piece of this situation – actually there are a few missing pieces but I will start with the first one – is that most people needing help don’t know exactly what help they need AND those offering the help don’t know how to help them either.

This is why people frequently find themselves dropping off meals… even when our research tells us that the help people really want is ‘changing the bedsheets’.

We know of a family whose son was diagnosed with a serious illness. Their gorgeous primary school community got behind them and provided many beautiful meals. However, this family of vegetarians ended up with a freezer full of food they could not eat and were too embarrassed to let the school know of their dietary requirements for fear of being thought of as ‘ungrateful’. All the while, what they really needed was help collecting the kids from school on the days when Mum needed to stay at the hospital with their sick brother.

How frustrating is this? An amazing community was there and ready to help – they just needed the right guidance and tools so that their help was targeted to have the greatest impact.

And this is the first reason why Gather My Crew is better than using Whatsapp…

When you create an account, you are prompted to answer a series of questions so the app can create a suggestive Help List that meets your specific needs. This Help List then triggers people (both the person in need and their support network) to think more broadly about the many ways people can help during tough times. From home help, social connection or transport, we have gathered this list from people who have ‘been there, done that’ and know all of the little things that can make a real impact when going through a tough time.

Our most successful and impactful support crews have friends and family who have thought about the specific situation and rostered the crew to provide a range of tasks such as transport to treatment, social visits, doing the laundry, dropping off bread and milk, weekend childcare and walking the family dog.

And with Gather My Crew – all of these tasks can be rostered for months and months on end… and the technology can adjust to the changing circumstances of all parties involved  ❤

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