Website, GPS assists Santa Shoebox Project

The helper system that forms part of the Santa Shoebox website, developed by Aspire Solutions, enables potential donors to browse the entire list of beneficiaries to choose the facilities and children they would like to make up boxes for.

"Many donors choose children of the same age and gender as their own children," says national co-ordinator, Irené Pieters. "Others just like knowing the name of the child who will receive their box. There is also an option to donate a generic box, either to replace one that never arrives or as a gift for a child who arrived at the facility after we created the database."

Making the web site easy to use has been critical, says Mike Steyn of Aspire Solutions. "Once donors have registered on the site they are automatically emailed the barcoded gift tags they need to stick onto their boxes. That makes the collection and delivery process later on much easier."

GPS assists drop off points

However, in some ways, the challenges only begin once donors have signed up. "This year we have 36 drop-off points around the country," says Pieters. "One of our biggest challenges is getting all the boxes delivered to the drop-off points on time, so that our volunteer teams can scan the barcodes, check the contents and pack them into cartons for delivery."

In the past, donors have often struggled to find the drop-off points. "I usually spend the day with my phone glued to my ear, giving directions. On some occasions we have lost boxes because the donors couldn't find the drop-off point in the limited time they had available, which was frustrating for them as well as for us."

This year, Aspire Solutions has helped Pieters and her team provide GPS co-ordinates and directions as well as a street address for each drop-off. "We expect the whole process to be more efficient this year.

"It is much better for me to spend my time talking to donors and sponsors than on the phone giving directions," she says.

Once all the boxes have been received, checked and packed into cartons for delivery, sponsors Laser Logistics and Berco will collect them and begin delivering them to facilities around the country from 3 November 2011.

"We have more than 600 facilities to deliver to and finding them isn't always easy," says Pieters. "For example, there are 60 in Khayelitsha and they often don't have clear addresses. We physically visit every facility before we add it to our list, but next year we hope to work with Aspire to map them all as well."

"Once every facility is mapped it will be much easier to produce waybills and printed maps for the couriers," explains Steyn. "Putting the maps on the web will also make it possible for donors to see exactly where their boxes are going."

"The bigger the Santa Shoebox Project gets, the better our systems need to be. Without a well-designed database, a working website and the expertise of our logistics sponsors, our job would be impossible," concludes Pieters.