{"id":115761,"date":"2020-07-23T22:17:14","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T22:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/?p=438424"},"modified":"2020-07-23T22:17:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T22:17:14","slug":"urgent-tech-overhaul-speeds-efforts-to-get-surplus-food-to-millions-of-people-who-need-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/07\/23\/urgent-tech-overhaul-speeds-efforts-to-get-surplus-food-to-millions-of-people-who-need-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Urgent tech overhaul speeds efforts to get surplus food to millions of people who need it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEverything happened in the first month\u201d of the pandemic, says Nikkel. She more than doubled the FoodRescue.ca team to 14 as the crisis worsened, and created a national task force to connect industry leaders, nonprofits, indigenous communities and others to figure out where the surplus and the needs were and match them through the FoodRescue.ca platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole country got behind this thing,\u201d Nikkel says. \u201cThis was the one place where people across Canada could access food, groceries and money, and that had a huge impact on how Canada managed COVID-19. And that\u2019s because of RedBit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Five<\/a>
RedBit developers sorted food for Second Harvest last year to see what challenges were being faced before working on the organization\u2019s tech platform. That helped them pivot quickly when the pandemic hit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The software consultancy was able to respond so quickly in part because it already had experience developing with the right tools in Azure. The data collected by FoodRescue.ca goes into a model-driven app in Power Platform, Dynamics 365 is used to manage the system, and everything is based on Azure, Arteaga says.<\/p>\n

But just as important was the company\u2019s process of connecting with its customers and learning the specifics of their needs, he says. RedBit developers had spent time working with Second Harvest employees, donors and agencies, including sorting food and going on truck runs with delivery workers to see what challenges were being faced at every level.<\/p>\n

With the new platform, a food donor \u2014 a restaurant, grocery store or any other food business \u2014 can create a donation listing, and then an agency \u2014 a food bank or any nonprofit that works with people in need \u2014 can claim it. Listings on a recent day included 5,600 pounds of crackers, cereals, meat, fish and nuts; 13,800 pounds of perishable prepared food; 3,700 pounds of baked goods and snacks such as cashews, cookies, noodles, candy, oatmeal and bottled water; and 2,500 pounds of bread.<\/p>\n

\"hand<\/a>
RedBit created a mobile app so Second Harvest could offer easier access to food donors and nonprofit workers suddenly having to work remotely.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s just today,\u201d Arteaga says. \u201cAll this food would have gone into landfills if it weren\u2019t donated, which is crazy. We saw tomato sauce and baby formula that was going to the trash because of packaging imperfections, if it wasn\u2019t rescued.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arteaga, who has been involved in technology since he was 14 years old, started RedBit in 2003 and began expanding it in earnest about five years ago, with 21 fulltime employees and seven active projects now.<\/p>\n

With Second Harvest, \u201cyou\u2019re saving people and saving the earth,\u201d Arteaga says. \u201cWe\u2019re finally getting to use technology to make a difference in the world. We build systems all the time \u2014 saving money, making money, automating processes \u2014 but this brings fulfillment, when you\u2019re in the warehouse and see the amount of waste there is and know there doesn\u2019t need to be that waste. So that\u2019s why I\u2019m fully invested in this as a human being to use technology for good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nikkel says RedBit\u2019s team worked so closely with hers that she considers them part of her organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost don\u2019t want to know about the tech,\u201d she says, \u201cand that\u2019s what\u2019s great \u2014 I don\u2019t have to worry about it. I just know it will work so we can keep making sure people can eat and the food\u2019s not going to the landfill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lead image: A Second Harvest driver delivers food to a charity in Toronto.
<\/em>Photos of Lori Nikkel, the RedBit team, the mobile app and food donation efforts were provided by RedBit and Second Harvest.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEverything happened in the first month\u201d of the pandemic, says Nikkel. She more than doubled the FoodRescue.ca team to 14 as the crisis worsened, and created a national task force to connect industry leaders, nonprofits, indigenous communities and others to figure out where the surplus and the needs were and match them through the FoodRescue.ca […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[415,156],"class_list":["post-115761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft-news","tag-feature-stories","tag-microsoft-teams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}