Threads of Hope

By Brandon Wallace '17

Management and information systems major Curtis Beiersdorf ’15 had a profound experience in the program’s e-commerce class working with Washington-based nonprofit Threads, Hope & Love. Beiersdorf and a team of classmates designed a website for the organization, which provides clothing and basic supplies to people in need.

The class introduces students to e-commerce solutions and explores the business models that allow implementation of these solutions. For the group project, students had to create a website for a client of their choosing. Beiersdorf’s group chose Threads, Hope & Love.

“From our first meeting with the wonderful people at Threads and meeting the rest of the staff, our group was immediately inspired,” Beiersdorf said. “After learning of all the hard work that brought them where they are today, our group wanted to do just as much hard work on their website.”

Beiersdorf used the e-commerce concept to add Paypal to the website, which made sending donations to the organization easier. 

At the end of the semester, praise from the organization’s leadership left a mark on the students.

“By the end of our presentation, I noticed Cindy (Shuford, the nonprofit’s president) had tears running down her face,” Beiersdorf said. “It was at that time when I really understood how much passion the people of Threads, Hope & Love have for the community and how they really believe in what they are doing. I could not be happier with the way this project turned out.”

Beiersdorf learned many key concepts in the class, such as building a website from the ground up, project management, presentation skills, and third-party plug-in integration.