Plate2Purpose

💡 Inspiration Every day, we watched perfectly good food being thrown away at campus cafeterias — while people just a few blocks away went hungry. We realized a simple connection could create massive impact. That’s where plate2purpose was born — to bridge food waste and hunger through purpose-driven tech.

What it does

🍽 What It Does plate2purpose is a real-time food rescue platform that allows restaurants, cafes, and cafeterias (Sharers) to post surplus food and NGOs, volunteers, or individuals (Finders) to discover and claim it instantly. With voice-to-post, location-based suggestions, real-time chat, and instant notifications, we make food sharing fast, inclusive, and meaningful.

🛠 How We Built It Frontend: React Native (Expo) for cross-platform mobile UI Backend: Node.js with Express for APIs and logic Database: SQL for structured user and food listing data AI/ML: Speech-to-text using Web Speech API + GenAI for parsing and rephrasing Location Services: Google Maps API for geolocation Real-Time Chat: Firebase integration for seamless messaging

🧱 Challenges We Ran Into Implementing voice input in React Native with Expo and integrating it with backend parsers Handling data parsing from natural speech to structured fields accurately Balancing between real-time features and a smooth user experience Managing cross-role flows (Sharers vs Finders) within the same app structure

🏆 Accomplishments That We're Proud Of Built a working MVP within 24 hours with speech-to-post, real-time chat, and location-based sorting Created a solution that’s inclusive, fast, and community-focused Designed with a clean, emotional, and accessible UI that resonates with our mission Integrated GenAI into speech parsing and rephrasing — making AI useful and human

📚 What We Learned How to implement real-time systems (chat, notifications) under time pressure The power of speech technology and GenAI in simplifying user input How design and tech can come together to solve real-world problems with heart That sometimes, simple solutions make the biggest difference

🚀 What’s Next for plate2purpose Add pickup verification and food quality assurance features Launch a web version for easier access in resource-limited areas Partner with local NGOs and businesses to pilot in real communities Build a donor dashboard for impact tracking and reporting Expand into other cities and countries to scale the mission globally

Built With

• express.js
• node.js
• postgresql
• react
• restfulapi
• vite