Inspiration: The pandemic and how many news outlets increased awareness of countless people struggling to put food on the table
What it does: Beansprout takes community support to the next level by providing quick, online access to community fridges, nonprofits/charities, and restaurants for the thousands of people who need them.
How we built it: We used Figma and a database to find locations of community fridges in NYC.
Challenges we ran into: We at first struggled with Thunkable because it didn’t allow for easy collaboration. This is where we learned that the tools you use can make a difference. Therefore, we quickly made the switch to Figma since collaboration is really key to this project. We also realized we didn't have enough time to code out everything in our project, so we decided to continue along with this prototype.
Accomplishments that we're proud of: We tackled food security in a unique way. There are already community fridges across NYC, but with our app, it can be much more organized and accessible. The fact that we have different food options for different dietary needs shows how accommodating this app is. Additionally, we have several places one can obtain food in one app rather than several different apps/websites, making it convenient with so many other things going on.
What we learned: We learned that there are always multiple ways to solve a problem. We even considered creating a website instead of a mobile app. However, we ultimately decided to go with the mobile app because of its accessibility. Each solution has its pros and cons, so there’s no such thing as a perfect solution. It’s about creating a solution with the least amount of drawbacks and maximizing efficiency for the users.
What's next for Beansprout: The next initiatives for Beansprout to tackle are creating community events such as night markets for everyone to gather and foster a sense of unity within this pandemic. We also want to perhaps take our organization country-wide and make these benefits provided by our website available nationally rather than just citywide. As this pandemic has divided our country due to hardship, we hope that our services are able to mobilize communities who struggle with food insecurity to get on their feet.
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