It is a current joke that the middle school students survive cheap ramen noodles and a kraft dinner, but food insecurity is a very real problem that post -secondary students face across Canada.
According to Kathleen Massey, vice-provost students of University of Lethbridge20% of students on campus have food regularly, but half of them are fighting every day.
“For around 10% of our students, it is a daily situation – it is a daily struggle where they do not have enough food,” said Massey.
Consequently, a student from the University of Lethbridge is trying to fill the gap between free food and students’ stomachs.
Ankit Mukherjee is a fourth year student who recently ranked third in the Launch point pitch competition By presenting its new application idea, “Snackradar. “”
“Snackradar is a platform that fills the gap between free food on campus and students who need it most. Thus, after having worked personally in many groups of students, I noticed that there is a lot of food remaining during events that are not transmitted to students in time, “said Mukherjee.
More than 600 students have already started using the concept via a website, he said, despite the launch that earlier this month. Those who want to register for food to be alerted via push notifications, and those who have food to give can fill out a form to inform them.
“I think that alerting it people of free food is fantastic,” said Alejandro Figueroa, elected president of the University of Lethbridge Student Union.
“Many people already have difficulty at the moment to get food, so just by being able to waste it, it’s already fantastic.”
For Muhkerjee, application is obvious for students today.
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“If you don’t have to pay for a lunch and you can rather get a free pizza by discovering it, you prefer to do this, right?”
“With the cost of living too, I think that if it is certainly something that students actively seek.”
The application is also congratulated for its news – exams are looming, which means that students are already stressed even more anxious.
“Right now, people are studying, they have their phone by their side and get a little buzz -” Oh hey, there is food there. “Take a little study break, get refueling, get friends, take food, come back.
Another side effect of the application design is the limitation of food waste.
“There are always university events that have additional food and there are always students who need additional food,” said Luc Roberts, entrepreneurial strategist for the Agility innovation area at the University of Lethbridge.
“There have always been difficulties in some way by bringing them together. I had a number of events where, afterwards, I walk in the corridors who say to me: “Do you want you to want tacos?” I have tacos, I come to this event ”.
“A platform capable of identifying free food and helping students connect there really helps to solve two problems at the same time.”
Another important problem is food security. Massey says that this application can help ensure that the leftovers are consumed within the appropriate deadlines.
“We certainly want to be sure that our students become nutritious, but also safe food. This application helps us put the information in the hands of students in a more timely manner so that food is not getting lost. ”
Mukherjee attributes to the Lanchpoint Pitch Competition, an entrepreneurial competition organized by the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge Polytechnic, for the early success of Snackradar.
Mukherjee obtained $ 1,000 at the end of third place earlier this month.
“Without the university support, it would have been very difficult to obtain the number of users I have at the moment,” said Mukherjee.
The competition acts as a first step for many new entrepreneurs, according to Roberts. He said graduates claim that the launch point and the Agility innovation area allow better decision -making for the future.
“They will tell us over and over again that it was very precious that they had these opportunities during their first cycle diploma where they could make mistakes, they could learn things, they could prototyper in the (agility innovation area), that does not cost them money.
“They can really afford to fail early and fail often, so when the stakes are a little higher, they have already learned most of the lessons.”
As for Mukherjee, he plans to finish the development of the application with the support of agility and the university before seeing where his career takes him after obtaining the diploma.
The platform is currently accessible to snackradar.ca.
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