Press Release, Porter County Health Department:
The Porter County Health Department is excited to announce the launch of the Porter County Find Help website, a custom resource page for Porter County, now live at http://portercounty.findhelp.com. Since it began in 2010, Find Help has provided a free platform where individuals can access free or reduced-cost resources based on location and categories, such as food, housing, healthcare, transportation, education, employment, legal services and more.
Sam Burgett, Social Worker with the Porter County Sheriff’s Office, started this initiative alongside the Community Resource Network (CRN) she founded while at the Valparaiso Police Department. For the past two years, the CRN has coordinated with local organizations to list and claim their programs on the site, ensuring that community members can easily connect with essential services.
In late 2023, with sponsorship from Northwest Health, CoAction (formerly Northwest Indiana Community Action) and Valparaiso University, Sam and the CRN successfully funded the creation of a Porter County-specific Find Help page. The Porter County Health Department will cover the maintenance costs after the first year.
Sam Burgett emphasized the importance of a custom resource page: “By having a Porter County-specific page, we can include programs that may not be free or low-cost, providing a comprehensive guide to the community’s offerings. Our goal is to prevent residents from reaching the point of crisis before finding the services they need.”
Carrie Honeycutt, Care Coordinator for the Porter County Health Department, joined the team in December 2023. She and Sam quickly set up the website, which went live in late December. They have since worked to customize the navigation bar to meet Porter County’s needs, with feedback from the CRN.
The navigation bar includes categories like Addiction & Recovery, Mental Health & Support, Families & Children, and Community Connection, alongside basic needs like food and housing. The team is excited to list community connection resources like parks, social clubs and senior activities. They also distinguish between “Network Members” and “Network Affiliates” to highlight actively engaged and responsive organizations within the CRN.
The vision for the Porter County Find Help page is to provide a single, accurate and current resource guide for residents of all ages. Carrie Honeycutt says, “This is a community effort, and we encourage everyone to help keep the site up-to-date as it will continue to grow. Anyone can suggest a program to be added, and organizations can claim their program listings to manage and update their information.”
This can be done at https://portercounty.findhelp.com/find_a_program.
For more information on how to claim program listings, visit https://auntbertha.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/11/article/2563997784
Organizations are encouraged to share the Porter County Find Help button/logo on their websites, linking directly to the resource page. For follow-up information and assistance with listing and claiming programs, contact Sam Burgett at (219) 477-3117 or sburgett@porterco-ps.org, and Carrie Honeycutt at
(219) 510-9042 or carrie.honeycutt@portercounty.org. You can also check out a new video that promotes Find Help at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9P0D3-9XEw .