Plone and Disaster Relief

Watching the Hope for Haiti Now telethon, I'm reminded that one reason my shop uses Plone harkens back to the Sumatran earthquake and tsunami back in Dec. 2004.  We were babes in arms, futzing around with various home-built Python and Zope concoctions for interactive websites.  Plone 2.0.1 had come up on my radar as a promising alternative to home cooking our portals. 

Meanwhile, Oxfam America had just retooled their website using Plone with the help of Enfold Systems.  December 26 the disaster in Sumatra struck.  In a single month the new Oxfam America site processed something on the order of $14 million in charitable donations, an amazing amount.  Obviously Plone could handle the scalability problem.  (See how they did it.)  Oxfam America continues its next-generation site with the help of Jazcarta.

With that vote of confidence, we forged ahead, building numerous small to medium portals, upgrading to 2.5, and basically getting steadily smarter about the whole Python-Zope-Plone stack.  Just yesterday we retired our first portal, Sandia's Training Course on Cooperative Monitoring, due to budget reductions.  However, our second, a water monitoring and hydrogeological modeling site, continues to this day. 

Now, with the Haitian earthquake crisis, I'm reminded that catastrophes continue to plague the world and Plone continues to play a role.  Go to Oxfam America and give whatever you are able to.  If you can, give a monthly gift to help sustain their continuing efforts worldwide.