How a Local Charity Teamed up with NextME for Their Annual Toy Drive

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How Queue Management and Virtual Waiting Rooms Helped a Charity Bless 320 Kids With Gifts | NextME Online Waitlist

How Queue Management and Virtual Waiting Rooms Helped a Charity Bless 320 Kids with Gifts

1 Village, a non-profit organization located in metro Atlanta, has the fundamental goal of “helping communities better themselves”. Each year on Christmas Eve, they host a much anticipated toy drive for families in need. 1 Village works tirelessly throughout the year gathering donations and building sponsorships. Even the Spyder Squad ATL (motorcycle club) dropped off loads of gifts for the event this year.

The Problem: Health and Safety Measures. Outdated Check-in Processes

They had the gifts and sponsors but organizers were facing tough challenges this year due to restrictions from the Covid-19 pandemic. They needed to tackle their intake and check-in process. 1 Village decided to digitize the way they held events to ensure everyone’s safety. The answer? A modern waitlist solution with a Virtual Waiting Room and QR codes. 

The Solution: A Queue Management System with a Virtual Waiting Room

1 Village teamed up with NextME to employ a waitlist management system for the event. They customized their Virtual Waiting Room and Self Check-In features based on their specific needs. And after some quick and friendly onboarding from NextME staff, the organizers we’re ready to take on the event. (we supplied our service for free)

How Queue Management and Virtual Waiting Rooms Helped a Charity Bless 320 Kids With Gifts | NextME Waitlist App

How It Went

“The app was definitely helpful and fairly easy to use… Overall it was a good day. We were able to bless 320 kids with gifts. ” – Niesha (Nikki) Hicks, Co-Founder

  • The organizers had implemented a pre-registration process ahead of the event (to ensure they had enough supplies for the demand this year)
  • When a guest arrived at the event, they checked in by scanning a QR code on one of their many check-in signs located outside. 
  • The guest filled out their custom form and jumped on the waitlist
  • Organizers filtered each guest coming on to the waitlist into their respective queues, based on their party size and pre-registration status
  • While the guest waited in their car, they were engaged in the Virtual Waiting Room – updating them on their spot in line, highlighting different sponsors, and capturing their emails in order to reach out to them for future events. 
  • When space opened up inside, the organizer simply notified the next guest in line via the NextME App.
  • The guest received the final text to come inside, with instructions on where to enter the building. 
  • Gifts and smiles all around – with an email to attend their next event on the way. 

1 Village plans on using NextME at all of their future events, pandemic or not. From a managerial perspective, NextME increased throughput and efficiency which helped the event run smoothly. And from a guest perspective, the Self Check-In and Virtual Waiting Room features provided them with a better guest experience – and that made their day a little more special. 

If you’d like to donate to 1 Village, contact Nikki at [email protected]

Request a demo or give us a call at (877) 639-8631 for more info!