Volunteers to pitch app for BikePGH during Steel City Codefest

Megan Harris, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014

Slow to load and difficult to maneuver, Pittsburgh Cares’ website for would-be volunteers is a recruiting nightmare, the group’s executive director said.

“We get so many phone calls from people who’ve tried to sign up online or on their phones and can’t get anywhere,” Deb Hopkins said on Sunday. “We want to recruit more millennial volunteers. They’re out there, but we’re losing them.”

She might have found an answer. The Lawrenceville-based nonprofit that pairs altruistic Pittsburghers with local volunteer opportunities was one of seven organizations at the heart of this year’s Steel City Codefest, which wrapped up on Sunday in the South Side.

“That’s part of why we picked Bike Pittsburgh this year,” said teammate and Pittsburgh native Jeffrey Shebetich, 33, who works for Orbitz in Chicago. “The cause really appealed to us, and it was a really interesting challenge.”

The three-man team established an interactive game for users to track their routes, accrue points based on rides and miles and earn rewards while Bike Pittsburgh tracks user data.

Designed to emphasize community impact, scores of participants were presented with each group’s specific challenges for computer coding and app development.

Read the full article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 

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