Meet the host2help.com Team!
You know we are here to help, find out why!

John Smart started "playing" with computers in 1983. At the time a Vic20 with 3.5KB was the cutting edge in technology! Since then, John has worked with computer hardware and software, telephony systems, LAN and WAN connectivity. In 1997 John was one of the founding members of InternetDesign.com a web hosting, design and solutions company offering everything from online solutions to database needs, design needs and programming requirements; e-Commerce solutions to message board sites.

Shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit, John and his business partner and wife, Lori, wanted to help, but throwing what money they had to spare at the time towards the charities helping seemed somewhat insignificant. Through discussing how they could help, they formulated the idea for "host2help", but the team was incomplete, so the idea just sat around, not doing anything.

In looking for a partner, John spoke with InternetDesign.com's 1st e-Commerce customer, Dave Schimandle, (www.slickstix.com) and discussed the plan with him. Dave was intrigued, and asked thousands of questions. After much thought on the matter, Dave joined the team, allowing us to get down to the serious business of building the site. Estimating three months to complete the code, in month #6, John was about finished, much to the relief of all concerned! Now comes the exciting part!

"I am very excited to be involved with host2help.com - in researching the idea, I found that most companies that help charities either offer 1-5% of takings, usually with a cut-off time. We built this business model very carefully, and are elated with the system that will share 2/3rds of income with charities, good causes, sports teams, libraries, - any organization at all, with no upper limits or cut off timeframes - basically no small print.

"My field of interest is the nerdy stuff, the technology behind the scenes - so working with our providers, Datapipe, we are able to offer the best hosting available, at a very affordable price - we make managing accounts very easy, and make managing your online presence very affordable. In searching through every aspect of this plan, we have yet to find any thing negative that could dissuade anyone from taking advantage of the stellar services host2help.com is offering."

John Smart can be contacted by e-Mail at John@host2help.com or through the media relations page.

Since Lori was great with numbers and organization in school, she decided that when it was time to further her education and career, accounting and business studies would be a safe bet. In time, she realized it just wasn't fulfilling and the creative side to her personality was bursting to get out.

One day one of her accounting clients asked if she could help him find a company to build a website for him and instead, she asked if he minded if she tried to do it herself. Not only did she love learning web design, but the client loved his web site! At the same time, her friend John in England was just starting a Web design & hosting company, InternetDesign.com. She asked if she could work with them, and that was the beginning of a long business partnership that turned into a happy marriage! Lori divides her time at InternetDesign.com between web design and the day to day accounts and business, but definitely enjoys the design work a lot more!

At host2help.com, Lori's time is divided between design & layout, copywriting, working closely with the search engine optimization team, beta testing, promotion, brainstorming, design and as little accounting as possible! She really loves life now, even though she is still paying off student loans for an education she's moved beyond. At least she can still balance a checkbook!

Aged 12, Devyn (as a home school pupil) heard Lori and John talking about business plans, and she wanted to be involved - so as a school project, she developed a business plan to sell cute computer mice. With a little help from mom and dad, the website MouseStuff.com was launched. Devyn is still activley involved with the family businesses, and put a lot of work in to the host2help.com web site, working on research, data entry, and first-round sales. Her skills also spill over into design and graphic work.