WILSONHELPS.ORG IS a large-scale, comprehensive, and user-friendly guide to Wilson County’s broad array of available aid. This is the most general way to describe what is an enormous, cross-referenced resource that takes its inspiration from Craigslist.
WilsonHelps.org is the brainchild of Will Rivers, who saw that many residents of Wilson County — new and old — were unaware of the many aid options in Wilson County. Information on help and resources was certainly available, but the details were scattered, hard to find, and sometimes incomplete. There was an urgent need for an online, comprehensive resource guide. With his background in websites, Rivers resolved to create just that.
“I’ve found,” he said wryly, “that almost 99% of the effort to undertake a project falls on that person who says, ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea!’” Rivers certainly had the idea, and he was just the one to implement it. WilsonHelps.org is the end result.
“It’s been an eye-opener,” Rivers reflected, “to see how much help is available.” That abundance of assistance is more than evident when one gleans the material in WilsonHelps.org. The site offers over 150 categories of help. There is a cross-reference of ministries, volunteer organizations, food banks, churches, government services, state agencies, and veteran services. The comparison to Craigslist is an appropriate one: Visitors to WilsonHelps.org can absorb a massive amount of information in an organized, non-chaotic fashion. A user can conveniently locate a myriad of categories under the “basic needs” heading — employment, free food and meals, health services, and many others. There is a calendar of events, camping and hiking info, and governmental resources and information. The scope of WilsonHelps.org is such that it’s impossible to summarize adequately.
All this information must be kept current and up-to-date, which is a time-consuming endeavor. “It’s amazing,” Rivers noted, “how many places change their location or their hours of operation. Some of them have even gone out of business. Some don’t have enough staff to stay open. Some of them have seasons.”
WilsonHelps.org also encompasses a recreational and leisure component, with guides to hiking, camping, music, and many other activities, all of which point to the area’s multi-faceted appeal.
What makes this all the more impressive is that the website is, in its own words, “an independent, autonomous, nonprofit, nongovernmental resource” that is entirely volunteer-run.
Will Rivers has been doing this for the last two years. Websites with WilsonHelps.org’s scope and cross-referencing are not unprecedented, but they are certainly rare. Will Rivers credits the community for its support, specifically citing two other resources: Compassionate Hands and Everybody’s Wilson. Enthusiastic local government agencies also gave his efforts a “shotgun start” by putting WilsonHelps.org on the county and city of Lebanon’s websites.
If there was ever a need for WilsonHelps.org, it is now. Rural poverty is a spiraling, ever-serious issue. “Most of the volunteer organizations, agencies, and ministries are just keeping up.” Will Rivers and his wife, Joy, moved to Lebanon in 2007 and immediately began an involvement with some of the local volunteer efforts, primarily the Joseph’s Storehouse Food Ministry. When he first lived in Lebanon, Joseph’s Storehouse distributed free food, beverages, personal hygiene items, and paper goods to just a few hundred families a month. That number is now over 1,000 a month — an incredible increase. And when one considers that this alarming trend is transpiring on a national scale, the total picture becomes very dire.
The best way one can get a sense of WilsonHelps.org’s scope is, of course, to take a look. In a way, the actual need for this sort of internet resource that focuses on help and assistance is tragic — it indicates a widescale need. On the other hand, if so many people face various crises and need so many different types of help, WilsonHelps.org is a vital component in improving people’s lives. Will Rivers and the community at large have made a giant contribution. GN
