Globally, we waste about 1.4 billion tons of food every year, and in the United States alone, we waste about 40 million tons every year. It has been found that this food waste comes mainly from individual households. Additionally, before Covid, around 35 million people in America, including 10 million children, suffered from food insecurity, and in 2022, this number is expected to grow to 50 million people. So why is there this huge gap between food waste and food insecurity? The answer is that it is found that many people would want to help the homeless rather than throw their food away, but they don’t due to ingrained beliefs and habits and overall confusion in where and how to donate their extra goods. The SOUP app can solve these problems for both the donors and shelters by bridging the gap between them. This app builds a community of donors and shelters where the two groups can communicate with one another to help the homeless in the most efficient way possible.
There are two user groups of the app: shelters and donors. In the shelter point of view, shelters can view their donation inventory and alert system for when certain items fall in shortage. The app allows shelters to send out notifications for the need of specific items, due to shortage or in preparation for an event coming up; for example, large meal preparation, or the holiday season. On the other hand, the donor point of view informs which nearby shelters they can currently donate to, along with specific items the shelters are in need of. Instead of searching by location, they can also search by the exact items they have in excess at home and find which shelters need them the most.
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