“Pocket Pantry”
Creators: Aaron, Amir, Joshua
High School Students from Academy of Innovative Technology HS
Type of Project:
- Coding,
- Game Design,
- UX/UI Design
Themes of Project:
- Community Advocacy,
- Food Justice,
- Resource Sharing
About this Project:
The Problem:
In the United States, 44 million people struggle with food insecurity, which includes 1 in 5 children. Food pantries are lifelines, but navigating their schedules and lines can be challenging.
The Solution:
We present a revolutionary mobile app that tackles food insecurity on two fronts:
1. Empowering those in need: Our app helps people locate pantries, and schedule pickup times to help reduce wait times. Users can schedule a pickup for their food necessities within the app eliminating the need for waiting in line and unpredictable wait times.
2. Engaging the Community:
a) Play for a Purpose: The app will contain various in-app games that generate ad revenue. All the generated revenue will be donated directly to local food pantries to help provide meals for those in need. The more the users play the game, the more they can help their local community.
b) Direct Donations: The app will also allow users to make secure donations to their chosen local food pantry.
c) Raising Awareness: The app will contain a section with informative content and user stories about food insecurity to inspire users to take action.
Our Inspiration:
The inspiration for the app struck us on a train ride. We were playing a mobile game bombarded with advertisements. This led us to research how much revenue mobile games generate and how we can tap into this market to help our community.
The Vision:
Our app is a win-win. Those in need receive convenient access to valuable resources. Local pantries receive much-needed support and donations. Playing our games supports local pantries with every play, with no additional costs to the user. Users with extra resources can directly donate to local pantries within the app.
Join us in fighting against food insecurity one play or a dollar at a time.
In the United States, 44 million people struggle with food insecurity, which includes 1 in 5 children. Food pantries are lifelines, but navigating their schedules and lines can be challenging.
The Solution:
We present a revolutionary mobile app that tackles food insecurity on two fronts:
1. Empowering those in need: Our app helps people locate pantries, and schedule pickup times to help reduce wait times. Users can schedule a pickup for their food necessities within the app eliminating the need for waiting in line and unpredictable wait times.
2. Engaging the Community:
a) Play for a Purpose: The app will contain various in-app games that generate ad revenue. All the generated revenue will be donated directly to local food pantries to help provide meals for those in need. The more the users play the game, the more they can help their local community.
b) Direct Donations: The app will also allow users to make secure donations to their chosen local food pantry.
c) Raising Awareness: The app will contain a section with informative content and user stories about food insecurity to inspire users to take action.
Our Inspiration:
The inspiration for the app struck us on a train ride. We were playing a mobile game bombarded with advertisements. This led us to research how much revenue mobile games generate and how we can tap into this market to help our community.
The Vision:
Our app is a win-win. Those in need receive convenient access to valuable resources. Local pantries receive much-needed support and donations. Playing our games supports local pantries with every play, with no additional costs to the user. Users with extra resources can directly donate to local pantries within the app.
Join us in fighting against food insecurity one play or a dollar at a time.
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Fun
Innovative
Helpful
Great Design
Makes Me Think
Feedback from the Judges:
Well done; I hope that you further explore the ability to reach the target audience of your project
This is a great solution to a serious, real-world problem facing our society. I know that you're incorporating a game in order to generate ad revenue but I think it might add unnecessary complexity and be a distraction. The core purpose of the app stands on its own!
Great work here! I like how you explored multiple different approaches to help the communities impacted by food scarcity. It would be very interesting to see how the community would engage with the different solutions.
Your ambition is outstanding and convincingly identifies not just a problem that should be solved (there are so many in the world), but also takes the next step of showing a plausible way to solve it. I loved the idea of including games in the product as a revenue stream and keep folks engaged. It was great to see your thinking behind the design elements and color scheme.
This kind of app is what we would call a "two-sided marketplace": You have a "supply side" (the food pantries), and the "demand side" (the food insecure looking to schedule pickups). Other examples of two-sided marketplaces include eBay, Etsy, WeWork, Uber. A big challenge with two-sided marketplaces is that you have to cater to two kinds of customers, and their needs can be very different. For example, Uber has a whole different app for drivers. To carry Pocket Pantry forward, the next set of questions I would try to answer are: What do the food pantries need to be successful with the platform? What will get them using the app in the first place, and what will help them keep their pickup times accurate?
Great work!
This kind of app is what we would call a "two-sided marketplace": You have a "supply side" (the food pantries), and the "demand side" (the food insecure looking to schedule pickups). Other examples of two-sided marketplaces include eBay, Etsy, WeWork, Uber. A big challenge with two-sided marketplaces is that you have to cater to two kinds of customers, and their needs can be very different. For example, Uber has a whole different app for drivers. To carry Pocket Pantry forward, the next set of questions I would try to answer are: What do the food pantries need to be successful with the platform? What will get them using the app in the first place, and what will help them keep their pickup times accurate?
Great work!
Feedback from the Community:
👏 a Technology Professional from Westbury Schoold
this is a powerful tool that can change the life of millions. keep it up ♥️