Inspiration
In Santa Cruz County there is a large homeless population. As students at UCSC, we witness these hardships and feel compelled to help. During harsh weather conditions, the homeless population are unable to receive basic food and clothing necessities. The Santa Cruz community is very generous, however, delivering basic supplies to those who truly need it is difficult and there is minimal awareness regarding what supplies homeless shelters and food banks are in need of. Large amounts of food and other necessities go to waste every day. This application aims to connect businesses looking to donate supplies to food banks or homeless shelters that are in need. Additionally, the app aims to expedite donations for our four-legged friends. Currently the Santa Cruz Animal Shelter collect donations door to door. The app aims to assist with a platform where individuals who want to donate can easily connect with Animal Shelters in need.
What it does
This app allows businesses to donate any surplus supplies that they might have to shelters and food banks in need. It grants businesses the ability to publicly list any donations they have on a daily basis. In doing so, food banks or homeless shelters in the area can find and claim donations in a quick and effortless way. Donations are divided into categories, allowing shelters to quickly search for items in high demand. Shelters and food banks can then work together to bridge the gap between the surplus and demand in the community.
How we built it
We built this application using Django as our web framework. We used Python, JavaScript, and HTML/CSS to program and format the application. We used the Google App Engine to deploy our application. We also used Github for version control and Slack for easy communication.
Challenges we ran into
One of the biggest challenges we faced was working with unfamiliar technology. For all members of the team, this was our first time working with Django, and setting up and configuring our development environments as well as researching the tools Django offers took up a large amount of our development time.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud of building a web application that anyone in the community can access and utilize. We are also proud of supporting the Santa Cruz community and providing this platform for local organizations to connect.
What we learned
We learned the basic functionality of Django as well as how to implement the Google Maps API. We learned how to work as a team under high pressure and little time. We also learned how to resolve merge conflicts and work simultaneously on the same project.
What's next for CommunityBridge
The next step for CommunityBridge would be to finish the backend and then integrate Yelp! And UberRUSH. Right now, the Google Maps API is only returning a list of any shelters or food banks in the area, we want to give users the ability to filter these results based on their proximity and what type of donation they are looking for. We also want to expand on what type of donations can be listed and collected through CommunityBridge. As of now, the application is directed mainly toward food donations from local restaurants, however, we want to expand that category and accommodate for clothing, housing supplies, pet needs, as well as community outreach opportunities.
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