surplus

landing page
share food sample
share food thank you screen
get food sample
get food thank you screen
text sample
notification sample

Inspiration

Many low-income families and people without permanent homes in Canada are suffering from food shortages. Since 2017, it has been reported that on average, Canada throws away over 2 million tonnes of edible food per year. Food waste is costly and damaging to the environment, while serving no purpose for those in need. Our goal is to minimize waste by bringing unsold food and supplies from charitable retailers to those in need.

For this hackathon, we wanted to use SMS to communicate with users since statistics Canada reports that almost all individuals with a phone has SMS service while not all of them have access to a stable source of internet connection.

What it does

Using a webapp, the goal is for suppliers, farmers, restaurant owners, etc. to input their information, location, item they are willing to give, and the timeframe that the item will be available. The app, which uses a database holding users' information, will send an SMS to those within the vicinity letting them know the items they can claim. The users then will have a chance to respond if they will pickup the item, and if not, it will go to someone else, incrementing by distance and how recent they received aid.

How we built it

This webapp was made with react on the frontend and python on the backend. Twilio was the service used to send SMS from the backend database to users. We used a Firestore database to store user information with their phone numbers as a key. The webapp is takes user and suppliers entered information into the database which will then handle all events and replies.

Challenges we ran into

Creating a database was a challenge since most of us were new to this. Working with a tight timeframe as well as working remotely provided a great challenge of communication. Formatting the webapp with react css was also a challenge. Due to these constraints, we weren't able to complete a full description video, but we were still able to create a short demo on how it works. We also weren't able to deploy the project to Heroku, but all github repositories are listed.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are excited to be able to connect users in need with charitable suppliers to not only help eliminate food waste, but also improve lives. This webapp offers seamless user experience with everything being handled in the backend. We like the simplicity yet necessity of our design and hope someday it can be put to use all over the world.

What we learned

This was the first hackathon for some members, and they were exposed to react framework, connecting frontend to backend, using firebase, flask, and other cool technologies not used in a classroom setting.

What's next for surplus

Since this was a hackathon, we downsized the scope of the project in order to meet the basic goals of this webapp. Firstly, we would deploy this project using a service such as Heroku. Next, to fully implement our vision, we would like to add postal code distance detection to improve on accuracy of neighbourhoods, as well as improve the selection algorithm for deciding which users has priority contact.