EvacuAid

EvacuAid connects people in need with volunteers during natural disaster evacuations. Users can find volunteers on a map who can help: storing vehicles, watching pets or even housing individuals.

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Inspiration

We were inspired by the shocking scenes we saw from the recent Southern California wildfires. So many people lost many belongings and pets in the fires, in addition to their homes. We figured there has to be a better way for evacuees to save their things.

What it does

EvacuAid matches evacuees in need with volunteers who are nearby (but don't need to evacuate). It allows them to find each other via a map, chat about the details of their needs, and then draw up a custom contract between them to sort out the details.

How we built it

We build this using python/flask for the server, where all the Docusign magic happens, and with react for the client. We used docker-compose to run both the frontend and the backend simultaneously on both of our computers. Implicit Grant Auth was how we got our DocuSign features to work.

Challenges we ran into

We struggled with keeping focused on the features that really mattered and building only for use cases that would actually help our users. We thought there would be a steep learning curve to use DocuSign, but the auth and envelope API were well documented (with up-to-date docs) so that ended up not being a challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are most proud of the final product we created and how well the docusign integration works with our web app. This was one of our team members first hackathons, so there were a lot of unkowns when working with new apis and technologies. In the end we had a polished final product that worked well with both Docusign and OpenAI's apis and has the potential to become a real product that can help those in need.

What's next for EvacuAid

Future features we foresee include:

  • More intense KYC for Volunteers
  • Additional contract editing tools and resources
  • Working with local law enforcement and rescue teams to add more ways of helping people
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