The Mid-Atlantic Babywearing organization is dedicated to supporting the wearing of babies and toddlers for all caregivers. The MAB Volunteers love holding their babies, toddlers and older children close with baby carriers and work to spread that joy throughout the south-eastern and south-central areas of Pennsylvania.

Babywearing is a method of carrying a baby, toddler or older child close against one’s body using any of a variety of types of carriers. Babywearing is a tool that has been utilized all over the world for many centuries, allowing caretakers to engage in daily activities while staying connected with the child and enjoying additional bonding time.

Check out the many benefits of babywearing.

MAB has a lending library so that their members can try different types of carriers and find what works best for their family. They currently have software that works pretty well, but is a strain on their budget. The new software will keep track of members & dues as well as the lending library items and their due dates.

This project aims to provide MAB with a new Lending Library that is more cost effective and provides the same capabilities as their existing system with an emphasis on tailoring the experience to better suit the needs of this organization. The primary set of features this project will focus on includes:

• Managing inventory of hundreds of carriers across multiple locations

• Allowing Members to create or update their account information

• Using volunteers to check in and check out carriers from inventory

• Recording (not processing) financial transactions such as late fees and membership dues

  • Simplifying the process to waive late fees

• Improved notification of activities to members including:

  • Due date reminders for checked out items

  • Updates or changes to events and item due dates

• Signing agreements and waivers to participate in the organization

Some additional stretch goals include:

• Transferring inventory between locations (and tracking that history)

• Event attendance sign in

  • Fast sign in for existing Members

  • Easy transition to create new accounts for new Members

• Assign location preferences to Members

• Opt-in text message for meeting and check out reminders using Twilio

The volunteers in this group are very mobile and are using their personal phones or tablets (mostly iPad minis) to capture event attendance, register users, and process transactions. This project needs to consider a mobile-first design to continue to provide the users the flexibility of working remote without having to carry a laptop. Some events are also more of an ad-hoc popup so a phone could be the only device available in those moments.

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We welcome all types of contributions, but any pull requests that address open issues, have test coverage, or are tagged with the next milestone will be prioritized. Please read our How to Contribute guide for more information.