Keith Thode is a man with many hats. He is a CEO, a chief scientist, a social entrepreneur and frequently volunteers in the Grapevine community where he and his wife, Amanda, live.

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Last year he created the SafeNight app, a smartphone app that allows area nonprofit agencies to alert donors when shelters are full and funding is needed for a hotel room for victims of domestic violence and their children.

The app was created with the help of Thode’s company, AdvanceNet Labs, an international social sector technology organization.

Thode has served as the architect of several international social sector technology solutions as well as a first responder logistician/technologist in relief efforts for events ranging from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. He has facilitated partnerships with organizations such as Feeding America, Accenture, Federal Emergency Management Agency, AT&T Inc., Microsoft Corp., United Way, UN World Food Programme and UPS.

He serves in board/officer capacities with several other private and nonprofit organizations, including AidConnect, 121 Community Church, Finney Media, Soceana and several real estate consortia. He is a frequent speaker at nonprofit and private-sector engagement events.

Thode has served in the areas of combating domestic violence and human trafficking by serving on a statewide commission funded by Blue Cross/Blue Shield in California to address the issue of domestic violence. Closer to home, Thode also serves as a partner in Social Venture Partners Dallas, focusing on social sector technology investments.

How did the SafeNight app come about?

I built this under the direction of a group in California called Caravan Studios, which is a big nonprofit technology organization. When they first came to me it was to help with the idea of how do we find out what shelter beds in the community are open. So it started being more of an inventory thing, but we started working on that and the team came up with the idea about putting people up in hotel rooms. So we talked to the shelters and they said, ‘Yes, we do that, but we often don’t have the money to do so.’ So we said, ‘What if we had that need and we were able to send out an alert and get donors to pay for a hotel room?’ When we went back to the shelters and talked to them about it, they said do that [app] first because that’s more important.

So how does the app work?

Keith ThodeA person just needs to download the app through the app store. Next they will create a profile. They will then select a shelter they wish to donate to. If there is a need, the donor will get a notification that there is a request from the shelter as well as the amount of money they are requesting.

How many rooms have been paid for since the app started?

Over 250 rooms have been paid for. We really just started going hard in September. We had a very soft opening with only two agencies back in April. We now have seven shelters that we work with. We will add a few more in North Texas over in the Fort Worth area, and we are looking at expanding into Houston.

Do you think local communities are aware of the need?

I don’t think people realize so many people are affected by this. I don’t think they realize how much domestic violence cuts across all economic backgrounds. You may have someone who doesn’t want to go to a shelter because they are scared of that or maybe don’t want to take their children to a shelter. A good thing about this app is that they now have another option that will still provide them a way out and at the same time make them more comfortable than they would maybe be in a shelter. Sometimes all people need is one safe night.