Welcome to JC Help -- Let's connect, Jefferson county!

Need help?
Have help?
Provide help?

Need help?
Have help?
Provide help?

This forum is to connect those who are seeking help with those who provide help, encouraging good matches among local residents. JC stands for Jefferson County so we are keeping this close to home.

Need help? You have a need that you might seek through word of mouth from family, friends, neighbors, and possibly popular websites. We wanted to create something that is organized, up to date and will allow locals to find each other for free year round.

Have help? * You have a helper that you are pleased with. You are on the site to find a backup should the need arise or so that your current helper can have a break and stay refreshed. * You have a service, but they leave open shifts. Find someone to fill those.

Provide help? *You provide specific services that you’d like to help with local needs. *You often have openings in your schedule and want to fill them without spending time actively searching on multiple sites.

Why JC Help?
It’s free to use year-round. Keep your profile/ad current so that viewers know you’re actively looking.
It’s local. Support those in your area.
It’s organized into categories for quick research. (The same information might be in several different categories for this reason.)
It’s current. Members are currently looking to connect.
It’s private. Your friends, family, and neighbors don’t need to know you’re searching.

Why not post on ...?

Facebook - Go ahead and post there, but post here too. The drawback to social media? While many locals use the site, it is not organized or kept updated. You can search a keyword, but results are often weeks or months old. It’s not private. Your family, friends, neighbors, and current helper know what you’re looking for. Avoid that awkward conversation about how they are the ‘perfect fit’ for your needs. ;-)

Popular caregiving and babysitting websites - Go ahead and post there, but post here too. Our hope is that by the time your subscription is set to renew, you'll decide to use this forum instead. The drawback to these popular sites? Both parties have to pay a membership fee to communicate with each other. If just one pays, they X out contact details in messages. Once you send the application, there’s no way to follow up if the job poster does not reach out to you. There must be a confusing setup because people will choose ‘live in’ and then the schedule is for 1 ½ hrs per week. I’ve also had people accept my application and never do anything else. I’m not sure if they think they are reaching out that way or what they’ve clicked. It's been riddled with scams lately. In this area, another popular site is not very widely used. My experience was that it was difficult to exchange messages. Easy to think that the other party wasn’t interested. We ended up using personal email instead.

Job search sites - Go ahead and post there, but post here too. The drawback to job search sites? They're not user-friendly. They don’t clearly show you if it’s the site making a suggestion or if it’s that company showing interest. It’s more ‘form letter’ than customized. On the job posting side, I heard from someone that it’s difficult to navigate.

Craigslist - Go ahead and post there, but post here too. The drawback to craigslist? You’ll have to do quite a bit of weeding through legitimate replies.

How can you help get the word out to keep our site active and growing for the best possible matches? (Once it's ready to use)
comment on social media posts with a link to our site
add keywords to posts to help with matching needs
tell your friends, family, and neighbors
add a link to your promotions "Find me on JC Help"
Make a business card, postcard, or flyer and put it on bulletin boards at local businesses (your business or with permission)
This really promotes the familiar phrase "Shop Local" which I hope will result in some great connections. Thank you for your part in this!

We recommend keeping your current social media posts and other subscriptions active, but adding your info here also. Hopefully, you can help this forum grow so big that you won't want to renew your subscription elsewhere when your current runs out.