Deep Developers hosted the Food Poverty Hackathon in June 2022. The aim of the hackathon was to design and build a solution to help ease food poverty over just two weekends. Food poverty is a pressing issue, The Trussell Trust reported around 2.17 million food bank users in the UK in 2021.
Approach
My team and I decided that the most effective solution to alleviate food poverty was to help communities share their resources. We recognized the stigma associated with having to use a food bank. We came up with @theTable, an application which helps communities share their food and their stories. Users can sign up as a host who shares a meal with someone or as a guest who needs a meal.
Stack
The project was extremely time-contained, so we kept the tech stack as simple as possible. To manage user authentication and user data, we used Google Firebase, a cloud hosting service. I was responsible for the front end of the app which I made using React Native with Expo. I also designed a landing page to use for marketing the app.
React Native is a JavaScript framework for natively rendering mobile apps on both Android and iOS. It’s essentially React.js for mobile apps. Expo is a bundle of tools that simplify the creation and testing of a React Native app. One of the biggest advantages of using React Native is that you can essentially build 2 apps at the same time for Android and iOS. This saves a lot of development time.
Result
Despite only having two weekends, I managed to create an MVP which had user authentication, user profiles, and a discover page to help users find meals. The source code for the application is here. The landing page is hosted as a GitHub static page here.
Reflections
This was my first Hackathon, I hadn’t previously worked in such a small team nor in such a high-pressure environment. Despite the constraints, the experience was a valuable one for me. It was incredible seeing an idea come to life in such a brief time frame. We had to make some difficult decisions as a team to prevent feature creep and ensure the timely delivery of the MVP. It was also energising knowing that the work was being done for a deserving cause.
One of the most important lessons I gained from the Hackathon was the idea of donating time and expertise instead of just money. Donating money to worthy causes is helpful but it doesn’t solve every problem. Using your skills and spare time can make a serious impact in solving problems like food poverty.
