Keep first things first.
Technology has a place in operations. Just out of view.
How this started
In 2016, a friend who visited who helped run a summer camp. I'm an engineer by background ... I build systems for a living. What I heard that week wasn't a process problem. It was a mission problem disguised as spreadsheets, bad technology and clipboards.
Nurses were tracking medications on paper. Check-out was a clipboard and a prayer. The store ran on cash in envelopes. Every one of these systems worked ... technically ... but every one of them stole time and attention from the thing the staff actually cared about: the kids.
I kept thinking: there has to be a way to connect all of this without adding more complexity. One identity. One tap. That's where the wristband idea came from.
What we believe
Nobody wants staff working long hours or things messed up or parents mad. That's what happens when critical operations run on disconnected manual systems. The information is always in someone else's notebook, which is who knows where.
We build technology for the people running the operation — the nurse, the registrar, the bookkeeper, the director. The young ones should never know the software exists. They just tap their wristband and go. Keep camp camp. Keep school school. Keep the mission the mission.
That means building things that work where the action is: outdoors, in the crunch period, in places where wifi drops. A system that only works in perfect conditions isn't a system you can depend on.
How it grew
We started with one camp. Camp store, attendance, and medication tracking — three systems connected by one wristband. It worked. The staff got their time back. Parents could see what was going on.
Then other camps started asking. Some needed cashless payments. Others needed check-in and check-out verification. A few needed health and medication tracking. Every camp is a little different, and the ones that came to us came because they had a specific pain point they couldn't solve with what they had.
FunFangle grew the way the best tools grow: pulled into new areas by the people who use it. We didn't set out to build a platform. We built one thing well, and then another, and then another — all connected by that same wristband.
Who we are
Matthew and Rebecca Vahlberg have been in the camp world since childhood, as campers, junior counselors, summer staff, leaders, and volunteers. They met working summer staff at Camp Berea and were married by Ron Ward, the Executive Director at that time.
Rebecca grew up in the mountains of New Hampshire, and Camp Berea became a second home for her on weekends and in the summer. She attended sessions, worked retreats, and found any excuse to be hanging out around camp.
Matt spent much of his childhood in the woods. Eagle Scout, Order of the Arrow, backpacking the Smokies and White Mountains. He served as a Young Life leader at Severna Park High School and on Committee for Anne Arundel County, spending time with teenagers at Rockbridge, Lake Champion, and backpacking in Colorado. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Virginia Tech and has spent his career as a technical manager and software engineer in utilities, transportation, government, and healthcare.
When not working to improve the lives of camps, Matthew and Rebecca are spending time with their four boys. They were also partners in a local sandwich shop called Park Deli in Severna Park, MD. Before it burned down, it was the best chicken sandwich (the Chicken Mojo) and milkshake in the county.
Start a conversation
If this fits your situation, we'd like to help. Tell us about your organization and we'll show you the modules that make the most sense.