Track it Forward

In 2009, the once beautiful Morcom Rose Garden in Oakland, California needed help: weeds overgrew, ponds stagnated, and roses withered on their stems. The city of Oakland, local businesses, and the community came together and started a volunteer recognition hoping more people would join restoring the park. If volunteers helped out more than 25 hours they were given pruning sheers, and if they volunteered over 100 hours, they were given a custom made deadheading t-shirt. Two tech-savy rose garden volunteers, Anca and James, loved the idea and built an online and mobile system so volunteers could track hours, receive these awards, and also gain a social status built of volunteerism. This system became Track it Forward.