Resources At Your Fingertips!

WARREN COUNTY, OH -- A quick and easy to use digital program has been made for Warren County residents, who need help in finding that right resources when it comes to assistance for food, medical and/or other important basic needs. And, these resources can now be found with the touch of a fingertip — thanks to an idea now turned into a reality.

“All they have to do is place their phone over the QR code, click the button... and it takes them right to the resource site,” explained Jerry Harrod.

Harrod’s name might sound familiar to many in the county, as he recently “retired” from the Lebanon Food Pantry, where he served for eight year, in which five of those years, he served as coordinator. He explained that while he was serving the pantry’s clients, he found that many needed more than just food. 

"They needed help in finding other resources, like housing and basic needs," Harrod said. 

Known at the pantry for his years in retail experience and organizational expertise, Harrod began using these same skills to bring his concept of “Resources at your Fingertips” to reality through the help of brothers Alex and James Burnett.

Warren County has a lot of resources out there, the challenge was putting them in one place for people to be able to find, Harrod explained, adding that James and Alex were able to overcome that challenge through their creativity and computer programming skills. 

“I call these two the brains of the project,” Harrod said. 

The brothers found, then tweaked, a program that was able to meet Harrod's vision... provide all the area resources, be able to be updated easily, and user friendly.

"It holds all the resources in Warren County in one place... and, they (the resources) can be updated on a regular basis," Harrod said, adding that updating is important. 

By providing it in an organized digital format, that is easily accessible, makes updating much easier and less costly. Resource operations may move, change hours or even services... being able to update the information as it changes makes it more helpful to everyone involved... "and less costly. And, if someone needs it in print, it can still be printed."

“We created Android specific applications to it, too,” noted Alex. 

“We also have the web version people can use on their computers or lap tops at public.Help. It takes you straight to the Warren County Resource Page,” added James, noting that the program has been created to use the location of the person doing the search. The location information, then, pulls up the closes resource locations for the person doing the search.

Currently, the digital site has 8 tabs a person can click when searching for a resource: 

• Basic Needs
• Counseling
• Crisis Counseling
• Education
• Food
• Housing 
• Medical

Along with Alex and James helping to create the program, Harrod explained that Warren county Judge Robert Fischer and Chelsie Hornsby, Senior Director of Business Development at HealthSource of Ohio, have both been a rremenpus help in getting public.Help up and running.

Need help in using a QR code, follow these steps: 

1. Open camera on phone, 
2. Hold camera over QR code, 
3. Click on botton that pops up (often in yellow) when phone camera is hovering over QR code. 
4. Once button has been clicked, you should be at public.Help website Help in Warren County, OH

If you have never used a QR code and need some help, the video below helps walk you through it.

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