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| Volunteer Ken Lovall |
Ken
Loveall, a volunteer at Empower Up, has an intriguing history of
working for the county and continues to use his skills to better the
community. He worked for 23 years with the county and spent his last
13 years there as a programmer and cartographer. For a large portion
of those years he worked as lead programmer for the County’s
revolutionary Geographical Information Service (GIS). For that
project he was required, along with 21 one others at the program’s
highest point, to bring together terabytes of spatial and
attributable data. His team was successful after four difficult years
of work on their state-of-the-art project. The GIS system has come in
handy for many residents of the region as it is possible to research
the value of neighbor’s, client’s, and personal property
holdings. Check out the website by clicking here or
by going to http://gis.clark.wa.gov/gishome/.
Ken,
now retired, has donated his time and extensive knowledge of database
development to Empower Up. He is currently working on a volunteer
database, made from scratch, to replace one that has been giving the
organization usability problems. Ken’s goal is to deliver a
product, using free open source software, that will enable staff to
access volunteer information efficiently and will be supported by his
expertise if any issue should come up.
Ken
has explained his dedicated volunteerism by stating that he loves
programming but needs a reason to do it, enjoys the feeling of
accomplishment after completing a difficult project, and just wanted
to be able to give back to the community. Everyone at Empower Up is
in anticipation of using Ken’s database product, first glances are
very promising!
Ken
also helps out Empower Up by tabling events and working on computers,
with an emphasis on Macintosh computers. He is a valuable member of
the Empower Up volunteer team. Ken is very patient and thoughtful
when working with other volunteers. Everyone looks forward to working
with Ken as he brightens the day with his pleasant demeanor, candid
intelligence, bow-ties, and love of sci-fi.
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