Oklahoma COVID-19 Vaccine Alerts
Donation protected
UPDATE 3/7/2021 - Thank you so much to everyone who has supported this effort! At the end of January we raised $10k hoping it would tide us over until alternate funding could be found. We were able to stretch the funds but now the site has nearly a million page views and has sent over 3 million text messages.
For full transparency the budget is posted here & is updated every few days. We're averaging about $500/day, but I'm continuing to make changes to reduce cost. Most recently I started auto-unsubscribing people after 7 days (but people can opt back in easily). This makes sure we're only messaging people that really need it.
❤️❤️❤️
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First off, my wife and I are so grateful to everyone who has offered to donate! We've heard so many stories of people helping family, friends, co-workers, and even strangers get their vaccine appointment set up. The selflessness and care that Oklahomans are showing for each other is incredible!
We're raising money to pay server costs for vaccine-alerts.com. If there are any unused funds, they will be donated to the Regional Food Bank.
> $20 pays for 3,500+ messages which helps over 50 people!
Vaccine-Alerts.com sends people from Oklahoma a text message when COVID-19 vaccine appointments are available. This is particularly helpful for older individuals who have trouble finding available appointments. The site also shows a live dashboard of what appointments are currently available.
This started as a tiny service shared between friends and has grown to send nearly 300,000 text messages (and growing). We're thrilled to help so many people, but the text messaging costs have been nearly $500/day on some days. I've made several adjustments to reduce the costs - letting people choose a portion of the state and allowing email subscriptions (coming soon). Twilio (the text messaging service) has also offered a "good cause" discount, and we are very grateful.
For full transparency, this is a full breakdown of costs to date:
Likewise we will post a receipt of the costs to show that the funds were used properly. Again, unused funds will be donated to the Oklahoma Regional Food Bank.
For full transparency the budget is posted here & is updated every few days. We're averaging about $500/day, but I'm continuing to make changes to reduce cost. Most recently I started auto-unsubscribing people after 7 days (but people can opt back in easily). This makes sure we're only messaging people that really need it.
❤️❤️❤️
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First off, my wife and I are so grateful to everyone who has offered to donate! We've heard so many stories of people helping family, friends, co-workers, and even strangers get their vaccine appointment set up. The selflessness and care that Oklahomans are showing for each other is incredible!
We're raising money to pay server costs for vaccine-alerts.com. If there are any unused funds, they will be donated to the Regional Food Bank.
> $20 pays for 3,500+ messages which helps over 50 people!
Vaccine-Alerts.com sends people from Oklahoma a text message when COVID-19 vaccine appointments are available. This is particularly helpful for older individuals who have trouble finding available appointments. The site also shows a live dashboard of what appointments are currently available.
This started as a tiny service shared between friends and has grown to send nearly 300,000 text messages (and growing). We're thrilled to help so many people, but the text messaging costs have been nearly $500/day on some days. I've made several adjustments to reduce the costs - letting people choose a portion of the state and allowing email subscriptions (coming soon). Twilio (the text messaging service) has also offered a "good cause" discount, and we are very grateful.
For full transparency, this is a full breakdown of costs to date:
Likewise we will post a receipt of the costs to show that the funds were used properly. Again, unused funds will be donated to the Oklahoma Regional Food Bank.
Organizer
Josh Wright
Organizer
Norman, OK
