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Eric Scott Volkel-Barno is a person who likes to help
people. He especially likes to help people who are helping other people. A
quiet person who tries to live by the motto “Speak less, help more,” he
didn’t always know how to go about it. In 2005 Kres Lipscomb, his
pastor at First Church of the Brethren, asked Volkel-Barno whether he knew
anything about Web-site development. He decided to learn, bought some
software, started reading a book, and began designing what would become
1stcob.net.
He decided to put links on the site to some of the
agencies the church supports, but when he Googled them he couldn’t
find Web sites for them. He then thought about putting up a separate page for each of the agencies
on the church’s Web site, but somebody at the church discouraged him
from this approach. “To myself I thought, ‘Fine — I will
just contact the agencies and ask if I could develop a Web site for
them.’ ” That’s how he got his first two
“customers”: the Helping Hands Homeless Shelter
(helpinghandssi.org) and Kumler Neighborhood Ministries (knms.org). “Customers” is in quotes because this
16-year state employee and father of three charges nothing to design Web
sites for nonprofit helping agencies. His charge for all the work he does,
several hours a day, to update and maintain the sites is the same: free.
You won’t find his name on the sites he designs, because he
doesn’t want credit, and he eschews the title of webmaster. He tells
potential clients up front: “I have to admit that I’m not very
good. I’m not a professional, I have a very simple style, and there
is a whole lot about Web site design that I don’t have a clue about. But the only
cost that is passed on to the agencies is the domain name, and that goes
straight to the domain registrar; I don’t take any type of
cut.”
With that sales pitch he has landed some major
Springfield accounts over the past three years, including PORA, which helps
recovering prostitutes (porahome.org), Contact Ministries
(contactministries.net), the Washington Street Mission (wsmission.org),
MERCY Communities (mercycommunities.com), and a dozen more. For links to
the 22 Web sites Volkel-Barno has developed and maintains, go to his own
site, esvb.org. As anyone would guess, his clients can’t say
enough good things about him. Mary Stone, executive director of MERCY Communities:
“Eric makes an important contribution to furthering MERCY’s
mission of housing and supporting homeless families to self-sufficiency.
Most small not-for-profits do not have in-house expertise for Web
development, nor the resources to pay for it, yet it is an important
communication tool. We refer people to our Web site on a daily basis with
the assurance that they will access up-to-date and relevant information.
Our furniture-store page is updated monthly. He takes great pride in his
work, always seeking improvements. Eric’s in-kind gift keeps us in
the technological mainstream, and for that we are very grateful.”
Volkel-Barno is grateful for the people he meets and
the friends he’s made through his unusual ministry. “I’m
just sitting here at home having fun with my computer while they’re
out there doing the real work of helping people,” he says. Lately he’s taken on some Web-site projects of
his own, just because he thought they needed to be done. His
springfieldfaith.org (“You don’t have to travel alone.”)
is an alphabetical listing of all the faith communities in Springfield with
links to their Web sites. A similar listing of Springfield social-service
agencies is located at esvb.org/service. His most recent project is
“Springfield Reconciliation, Remembering 1908”
(springfieldreconciliation.org), featuring photos of the riot, and events
to commemorate it. “This anniversary is a really big deal, and I
couldn’t find much on the Web about it.” On the city’s
Web site (springfield.il.us), the link to “Springfield race
riots” turns up nothing. Inspired by the personal stories of homeless people
he’s heard at recent community meetings, he’s offered to
develop a Web site for the organization Homeless United for Change.
He’d like to include writings and stories of the homeless,
anonymously if they’d prefer, as well as the stories of people who
help them: “Everybody has a story to tell.”
“It feels really good to have finally found
something I can do to help others,” Volkel-Barno says, but he’s
not content with what he’s done so far. He has many ideas for ways in
which his free-Web-site ministry can expand, and to get the contacts and
collaborators he needs he’s even willing to leave his computer screen
from time to time. “I’ve decided I have to go to more meetings
and talk to people,” he says. “I have to get out more.”
Meanwhile, people can contact him through his Web site, esvb.org, or by
e-mail at esvb@esvb.org.
Fletcher Farrar, president of Illinois Times, is a member of First
Church of the Brethren.
This article appears in Feb 7-13, 2008.
