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Moving Food

Submitted by Kip Silverman on May 24, 2011 - 11:36
Revision #15ForkRecommend a Solution
Every day, everywhere, a great deal of prepared foods goes to waste from restaurants, events, etc. In some larger cities, there are formal organizations to collect and distribute left over food, but most places do not have these resources and they are very costly to run. There needs to be a web/mobile based tool that allows registered users to pick up and drop off food on an ad hoc crowdsourced basis
Recommended Solutions: 
Moving Food
FoodMovr
Bring the Food
Example: 
Using the cloud, mobile apps and geo location technology, both providers and distributors can coordinate the pick up and drop off of left over foods. Both groups would need to register to be legit, distributors would need a food-handlers card or equivalent. This would allow people to make themselves available on an as needed/as available basis to pick up and deliver food. The process is self-driven requiring no central management and can be deployed for every city everywhere that has at least basic internet services.
User Stories: 
A wedding ends. The caterer sees that 15% of the food is untouched. They post what they have to a web site. Volunteers  are notified or can surf the site, "claim" the food, pick it up and drop it off at a shelter, homeless camp or wherever.
Constraints: 

There may be different legal requirements to be worked through on a city to city basis, but there should be no technical restraints. All the technology required already exists. Some costs are involved, especially on the delivery side-- i.e. could we provide a smart phone to designates at shelters and homeless camps?


I have already registered moovefood.com/org and will pay for the hosting of the web sites as long as it's affordable. It may need to move to a more robust hosting solution if it takes hold.

Similar Projects and Resources: 
Ushahidi might be a good framework to start from-- the transaction coordination would be the difficult piece
Next Steps and Sustainability: 
Once the code is engineered, we should start in a couple of cities to test and work out kinks. We would look for volunteers to coordinate for a particular town/city.

Comments

One alleged reason companies do not currently donate food is the increased insurance liability. I'll attempt to get company statements on donations and insurance information. I'll also look into an acceptable waiver for site-by-site usage. ~ Jay
Jay Bland May 25, 2011

What would be the names of some of those organizations in big/larger cities that collect and distribute left over food ...?
alejandro galindo May 29, 2011

I am unable to edit this post, so trying through a comment post--

Disaster related use: an event happens. supplies are being gathered/brought in. Resources can post what they have and where they are at. Recipients can post what their needs are Volunteers can "claim" the items for pick up and bring to people in most need.

three roles-- provider, volunteer, recipient. 

transaction model:  recipients post needs, providers post resources, volunteers sign up for moving one to other. Ideally, people can troll for opportunities, be notified via social media, text phone call when an opportunity is available in their area. Volunteers claim the resource available. Pick it up, check in and deliver either to a designated recipient or anyone in need.

extra credit: points system, analytics for tracking trends, needs, efficiencies/deficiencies. localization/globalisation-- rapid deployment for disasters.

Kip Silverman Jun 04, 2011

Jay-- exactly. Being able to indemnify the resources would be ideal-- this is a critical aspect and I appreciate you looking into it. My idea is that at least in the US, most cities require a "food handlers" card to be able to work in food services. one of my thoughts is that this would be a requirement for the volunteers to be able to register and "claim" available food. this may mitigate some of the liability. the challenge is that randomness of the laws from town to town.
Kip Silverman Jun 04, 2011

The idea here is to supplement the formal organizations or provide service where nothing exists. most restaurants/events dont have a lot of food in comparison to donations to food banks, etc. this would be food that can fit in the back of a car rather than requiring a truck. hope this helps frame the iea better.
Kip Silverman Jun 04, 2011

Hi, is there any site where you are all sharing information?. We are a group of 8 people located in Silicon Valley, and we are start working on the development of this project. But we want to make sure to not duplicate efforts.

You can skype me to evagabrielita if you want.

Thanks

Eva

Eva G Zamudio Jun 04, 2011

I've put up a model of the system running on Ushanidi Framework on http://donations.isafariu.com. I'm finishing up on the sms part where one can just put up food donation by sending an sms
Samson Arita Jun 04, 2011

hi eva-- we are trying to get on skype presently or irc. you can contact chachasikes on skype.
Kip Silverman Jun 04, 2011

I just add chachasikes in my skype. Please lets talk there so you can speak our engineer team 

Thanks
Eva

Eva G Zamudio Jun 04, 2011

move food problem page google docs bit.ly/kdtSNN
Kip Silverman Jun 04, 2011

Team Seattle & Team Silicon Valley checking in at 5:30 most likely to compare notes
Chach Sikes Jun 04, 2011

adding a google document collection-- or trying to. general user information document (draft) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n8wGkyQme-y9cbhxw23ojq_vknVNYuiizkPZ...
Kip Silverman Jun 04, 2011

Other folks work on this-- can you please add me on gmail/gtalk or skype at kip.silverman at gmail? I'd like to learn what you've been working on and possibly coordinate efforts past thr rhok event. also please email me your contact info (if desired) so I can keep you involved/informed as you wish as the effort progresses. I hope to continue building on this for quite some time. thank you!!! Kip
Kip Silverman Jun 05, 2011

If you are doing this for RHok Dec. 2011, please contact me,

 

Heather Leson

Ushahidi

Heatherleson Nov 30, 2011

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