YMCA of Roanoke Valley

Building Healthy Families with Improved Technology

YMCA of Roanoke Valley in Virginia serves its community with more than just fitness and exercise programs. It also offers family activities, youth sports, youth mentoring, and academic programs for youth living in low-income housing.

When Paula Pruett, Director of Administrative Services, joined the YMCA in 2000, there was no reliable means to share information between the administrative head office and its three branch locations. In addition, the Y had plans to build two new facilities.

Due to the Y's underpowered network and server technology, staff was often tied up with time-consuming and outdated administrative processes, such as shuttling paper memos to the head office, or attempting to connect by phone to exchange information with other staff. Few machines had access to the server (thus no regular backups) and even fewer were running antivirus software. As a result, data was often lost or entire machines would crash, increasing staff downtime and inefficiency.

To increase the capabilities of its network, the Y acquired donated products from TechSoup Stock: Microsoft Server 2003, MS Exchange, MS ISA Server, Microsoft Office licenses, and Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition. Their network previously had one server with 13 computers connected, no in-house email, and limited Internet access via dial-up. Now, their upgraded network has expanded to include four servers, 56 computers in three locations under one domain connected with broadband access, in-house MS Exchange for staff email communication and scheduling, an intranet for calendars and personnel forms, and association-wide antivirus protection.

Paula relies on the discussion boards to research computer technologies and best practices on TechSoup (www.techsoup.org/community). She has posted questions and received valuable input
on technology planning, computer leasing, voice-over-IP, wireless networking, VPNs, and computer labs. "TechSoup," she says, "is the first place I check when I need to do some quick research. I know the information is accurate and is geared to our nonprofit needs."

"Our staff now feels empowered to use technology in their daily jobs. Staff members have developed technology skills that allow them to collaborate on projects, share documents, and create materials inhouse that we previously depended on outside resources to produce."

"When I was hired, I had never seen a server. Thanks to TechSoup, I have gained the knowledge to deploy four servers and get the right software on these machines."

Paula Pruett

Director of Administrative Services