TiteKnit

Inspiration

With the current crisis, millions of Americans have stampeded stores and stored 10s and even 100s of food items and supplies in their homes. This will lead to exorbitant amounts of food waste.

On the other hand, many families and seniors are unable to travel to get necessary supplies and groceries from the store because they do not have personal vehicles and there is lack of public transportation. Grocery stores are struggling to refill their shelves, and this families and seniors are not receiving the necessary food and supplies they need.

60% of food thrown out by Americans is still edible (National Defense Resource Council )

Americans waste 150,000 tons of food every day, and this number is expected to double after COVID19.

According to the EPA, wasted food is the single biggest contributor to American landfills, where it is a major source of methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide.

What it does

Titeknit is an IOS App which allows users to help others in their neighborhood by selling excess food items and supplies. Those in need can receive necessary items by creating a wishlist which notifies them of available listings and delivers those that match their needs.

Challenges we ran into

Throughout this process, we did a lot of research and refining. Halfway through making the app, we realized that volunteers will not be able to travel too far to deliver the items, so we implemented the ZipCode Api to locate listings within the radius they specified they can pickup or deliver. In addition, we ran into a multitude of errors due to Xcodes recent updates. When testing our app, it would not sideload because of the recent XCode update. Eventually, we got it running and are proud to have a delivered, working prototype.

We learned

We learned how to utilize Firebase Database, Stripe Payment API, Zipcode Api, Apple’s CLLocation Library, Swift’s UI Tools, protocol & delegates, push notifications, and node.js backend.

What's next for TiteKnit

Next, we will advance our volunteer page by including tasks to complete in order to deliver the items to and from the homes that need the items. Thank you!