- blog contributions provided by Topher Hill
When Garrett from Poppy’s Tech Aid LLC connected with Dan from Mott Haven Fridge Network (MHFN) on a freelancer job board, both were confident that a partnership could work.
Why? One fun fact is Dan messaged Poppy’s Tech Aid on a Friday night (past 9 PM local time), when most people were out partying or relaxing at the beginning of the weekend. Both were impressed by the other’s dedication to their own business to be available to answer each other's inquiries at such a time.
Their first (digital) face-to-face meeting took place the same weekend early on Sunday morning, where they hammered out their deal: Poppy’s Tech Aid would help MHFN manage all of its HubSpot needs. Because Poppy’s Tech Aid is based in the NYC Metro area and always is looking for ways to support the community, they felt a strong connection to the cause and offered to provide their services at a steeply discounted rate.
MHFN is a growing network of volunteer drivers who use their personal vehicles to deliver rescued produce to hyper-local locations in underserved communities throughout New York City. They utilize existing community fridges and other community-run distribution sites to expand dignified access to healthy food.
Garrett from Poppy’s Tech Aid says, “Dan's passion to help bring fresh produce into the heart of underserved communities such as the Bronx really resonated with me. Dan and Mott Have Fridge Network are truly on a mission to resolve food insecurity in his local community. After living in Philadelphia for years, I realized food insecurity wasn't worlds away, it was just down the street. After settling north in the New York Metro area, I recognized similar issues just miles away. I'm a New Jersey kid and a New Jersey resident. NYC is an extension of my community. So when Dan asked for help, I couldn't say no.”
Before working with Poppy’s Tech Aid, Mott Haven Fridge Network was using several different pieces of software to keep track of donors, email subscribers, and volunteers. They knew HubSpot could be a powerful tool to help them organize and condense these three lists into one place, but they didn’t know how to do it.
Poppy’s Tech Aid helped MHFN integrate the data from those other programs into HubSpot. But they’ve also helped them with segmentation, list creation and organization, and email automation. They’ve been willing and able to teach members of the MHFN team how to do some of these processes, so they can do them in the future.
Dan Zauderer, executive director of MHFN says, “Garrett from Poppy’s Tech Aid not only has technical expertise, but he also has great business intuition, which is a huge asset to us as a growing startup. Above it all, he has a heart of gold!”
Poppy’s Tech Aid and MHFN have worked together for over two months and look forward to a continuing partnership. Poppy’s Tech Aid even plans to host a fundraiser to support MHFN in the fight against food insecurity. Please follow Poppy's Tech Aid on LinkedIn to learn more.
Garrett believes that, “Mott Haven Fridge and all other non-profits deserve a 50%+ discount on services. And yes, non-profits do need marketing but cannot typically afford the full rate of agencies for marketing services. We need to change that!”