Vote now to celebrate the work of Apparo skilled volunteers.
At Apparo, we love our volunteers. If you’ve had the pleasure of working with one (or more!), you understand. This April, National Volunteer Month, we will be awarding the fourth annual Apparo Volunteer Appreciation and Impact Awards. They will be given to the Apparo volunteers whose support of their nonprofit partner is most inspirational to the community. The winners will be honored at a volunteer appreciation celebration in late April.
You may vote once for one individual and one team. Voting closes at 11:59PM on Tuesday March 25th. Please see the voting form at the bottom of this page.
And the nominees are…
INDIVIDUALS
- Ross Feldman – Better Call I.T. – Nominated by Willmarie Austin, Habitat Cabarrus – Nomination: “In the world of small nonprofits, success often hinges on making the most of limited resources, stretching every dollar, and finding creative solutions. When Ross joined our organization as part of the G.A.I.N. program, we quickly realized we had gained far more than a tech mentor—we found a true partner. From day one, Ross has been an invaluable resource. His approachable nature and deep knowledge have made him my go-to person for all questions about technology. What sets Ross apart is his ability not only to provide answers but also to ask the right questions and guide us toward solutions. Even when I’ve had to admit what I don’t know (which happens often in the ever-changing tech world!), Ross has made those conversations easy and empowering. He never makes me feel less than—only more capable. We’re not even through our year with G.A.I.N., and Ross’s impact has already been transformative. His guidance has improved how we think about technology, and ultimately how we serve our mission. We are so grateful for his expertise, support, and kindness.”
- Matthew Galimi – Divergent IT – Nominated by Anne Mautner, The Kindness Closet – Nomination: “Matthew Galimi has gone above and beyond as a mentor in the G.A.I.N. program. He has been present on every call, answering questions and patiently guiding me through unfamiliar technology. He walked me through setting up a free Microsoft account and organized the transfer of all our emails and files, saving us significant costs. During our office setup, Matthew assisted with everything from setting up our Ring Central phone system to coordinating Spectrum for wiring. He recommended secure hardware, personally visited to set up our network, and arranged for internet installation in our warehouse. He also contributed valuable advice during tech planning calls with Coca-Cola. Matthew even formatted two laptops, going beyond what the GAIN program required. His expertise, kindness, and dedication have made a huge impact on our organization in just two months. The Kindness Closet is incredibly fortunate to have him as a mentor.”
- Steve Maykowski – Google – Nominated by Talia Wucherer, Arin’s Good Girl Dog Treats – Nomination: “I am nominating Steve for his outstanding contribution in setting up our Google Workspace for nonprofits. He went above and beyond, playing a pivotal role in helping us navigate the technical challenges and securing approval from Google, which was no easy task. Once approved, Steve dedicated countless hours to assist in the setup and provided invaluable training to our team on how to use the new platform effectively. His efforts have been instrumental in migrating our organization to a collaborative workspace, enabling us to better serve our community as we grow. Without Steve’s dedication and expertise, we would not be where we are today.”
- Gregory Scott – MetLife – Nominated by Norman Fairweather, First Jamaica Community & Urban Development Corp – Nomination: “Mr. Scott was patient and thorough. The Apparo Maturity Model is extremely helpful as we now have a detailed list of our deficiencies and what we need to do to develop a strategic plan. Having continued access to maturity model assessments and reports and access to all workshop recordings, slide decks and recordings is a treasure chest. We look forward to accessing Apparo services and support and reconnecting with Mr. Scott.”
TEAMS
- Anwer Abbas, Sunaina Datta, Kristi Warren (LexisNexis Risk Solutions) – Nominated by Tyniesha Brown, The Drake House – Nomination: “The LexisNexis Risk Solutions team invested significantly more time and effort into the project than originally anticipated, driven by their commitment to its success. They actively collaborated with both our website specialist and a nonprofit account specialist at Salesforce, ensuring they fully understood the feasibility of the recommendations provided. In addition, they leveraged the expertise of the LexisNexis Risk Solutions team, engaging in brainstorming sessions to explore innovative ideas. Their dedication to the project was evident in their thorough approach—they took the time to truly understand our processes, consistently confirming their understanding by referring back to us for accuracy. By gathering all the information we provided, they were able to organize it into a clear, sequential format and create diagrams that made complex concepts easily digestible for everyone involved. It was eye-opening to see how much of our time was consumed by manual tasks and the significant overlap between departments, which had previously gone unnoticed.”
- Ron Allard, Jimmy Allcorn, Stephanie Anderson-Hyde, Kage Dees, Praveen Gautam, Jeffrey Hallmark, Sara Houston, Shree Iyer, John Van Zelst (BlueLinx) – Nominated by Dominique Tedder, StreetWise Georgia – Nomination: “StreetWise Georgia is a non-profit that is growing rapidly with technology that was not keeping up. BlueLinx provided insight, options, and solutions to help us accommodate our growth. Now we have a CRM that fits our needs to hold essential information for 6,000 families in need. Things like communication to our clients, data entry, and reporting for much needed grants have been streamlined which frees up our time to complete our mission of Loving People, Meeting Needs. Plus it is a nice upgrade from the excel sheet we were using. Thanks BlueLinx!”
- Selina Almasarwah, Darnita Cistrunk, Monica Gale, Amarra Ghani, Rupa Paregi, Anna Pathi (Bank of America) – Nominated by Elizabeth Kurtz, Charlotte Family Housing – Nomination: “We desperately needed a new donor management software. Our legacy software was -literally – decades old, and no longer served our needs. We didn’t know where to start. The team at Bank of America carefully listened to our needs and challenges, asked thorough and detailed questions about our needs and wants, and about all the ways we use the software. They spent weeks narrowing the questions, and crafting a detailed scope. They then identified 13 potential options, narrowed it to 4 and walked us through product demos, helping us select a state-of-the-art solution for our growing organization. They were nothing short of amazing! They listened carefully, and did all the legwork to help us select the best option for our needs. Having their technical expertise ensured that we got the solution that best fit our needs. The Bank of America team did what they do best – designing software solutions, and freed us up to do what we do best – lifting working families out of poverty. THANK YOU TEAM!”
- Vladimir Frometa (AvidXchange), Scott Helm (AvidXchange), Naveen Sarvada (EY), Venkata Sivarama Yellapragada (Honeywell), Olena Zhurya (Honeywell) – Nominated by Lauren Grant, The Park Community Development Corportation – Nomination: “I would like to nominate the volunteer group who helped our organization on Apparo’s AI AOTP Day of Service. This group spent time educating me on how to utilize AI software (specifically ChatGPT) and helping me to understand ways in which this technology could empower our organization’s team to work more efficiently and effectively.”
