Hey Neighbour

hey neighbour

Inspiration

The inspiration for this project comes from our personal experiences with our parents and grandparents, who live alone and in different countries. Often, they need help with tasks we can’t provide from afar—like learning how to use technology in a simple, low-barrier way, or having prescriptions picked up when they’re unwell or unable to leave the house.

This no-cost model aims to bridge communities by reviving the spirit of the past—when neighbors looked out for one another. It’s about fostering meaningful connections and ensuring that no one feels unsupported, no matter where they are.

What it does

This project connects communities by enabling users to either seek help or lend a hand. Through a seamless, user-friendly signup process guided by a narrating mascot, users can join as either a "seeker" or a "neighbor."

Seekers can request assistance by selecting from six categories of tasks—like groceries, tech help, or yard work—and then choose a neighbor to help by browsing profiles with ratings and skills. Neighbors, on the other hand, can create profiles to receive task requests and decide which ones to fulfill.

This platform bridges gaps in communities, making it easy to connect, collaborate, and support one another.

How we built it

We build this project using HTML, CSS, react, and figma for the front-end development and used sqlite and next.js for the back-end development of the project.

Challenges we ran into

Initially, we envisioned creating a mobile app, knowing that many of our users are more comfortable using their phones. However, due to our team’s stronger familiarity with web development and the time constraints of the hackathon, we decided to focus on building a functional web app first. This allowed us to deliver a seamless and user-friendly experience within the given timeframe. In the future, we plan to expand this project into an Android app to better meet the needs of our users.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re incredibly proud of creating a fully functioning application that seamlessly connects the back end to the front end. For some of our team members, this was their first hackathon, and achieving a complete, working project was a significant milestone. What makes this even more rewarding is that our project contributes to social good by addressing real needs within our communities.

What we learned

Throughout this project, we gained valuable skills and insights. We learned how to build a functioning database and successfully connect front-end development to the back end, ensuring a seamless user experience. Collaborating as a team, we discovered the importance of communication and teamwork in bringing an idea to life.

Additionally, we learned how to incorporate tools like Figma's Dev Mode to streamline front-end development, significantly improving our efficiency. These experiences have not only enhanced our technical skills but also our ability to work together towards a shared goal.

What's next for Hey Neighbour

We want to deploy this web app into a mobile android app in the near future, so that our app truly reflects accessibility for our target audience. Additionally, we would add features such as location proximity for users to filter their neighbours and seekers based on their location so that users can give and receive help efficiently and quickly but also strengthen their local neighbourhood community.