Verizon Connect Develops Custom App for Second Helpings Atlanta Volunteers

New Tool Coordinates, Streamlines Surplus Food Rescue

A team of software designers and engineers at Verizon Connect, headquartered in Atlanta, has created a custom-made application for Second Helpings Atlanta’s volunteer drivers who use their own vehicles to rescue healthy, nutritious, surplus food from more than 80 Food Donors and deliver it throughout the city to over 50 Partner Agencies that feed the hungry.

“This new mobile app supports and enhances our unique 90 Minute Model. It will significantly increase our efficiency and therefore, our impact,” says Joe Labriola, Executive Director of Second Helpings Atlanta.

Verizon Connect’s app helps SHA’s volunteers to support its food rescue mission and offers a self-service environment that puts control in the user’s hand.  It provides the ability for users to interact with SHA’s staff by enabling them to sign-up to become a volunteer, view and sign up for available food rescue routes, request a substitute driver, and report pounds from completed routes.

A team of SHA staff and volunteers have been beta-testing the new app since February. Volunteer Michelle Boardman is already a fan: “I like that I can report my pounds as soon as I’m done with my pick-up and not have to write the number down or remember it until I get home to my computer. This is a great addition.”

Labriola notes: “Verizon Connect’s app gives us the tools to seamlessly track, communicate, measure, and expand our food rescue efforts throughout the entire metro Atlanta area. Last-minute changes in routes or availability can be shared immediately, and the app will definitely increase our efficiency. We cannot wait to see how much more fresh, perishable food we will be able to pick up and deliver as a result of Verizon Connect’s meaningful support.”

In 2018, SHA rescued a total of 1,635,945 pounds of food, enough for 1,363,287 healthy meals. In January and February 2019, SHA helped rescue more than 17,000 pounds from events related to Super Bowl LIII.

To learn more about becoming a Food Donor or Partner Agency, or to join Second Helpings Atlanta’s volunteer drivers, please visit www.secondhelpingsatlanta.org.