Service-learning project for computing students: Creating a mobile app for a non-profit agency

Over the last 15 years the world as seen a surge in users owning smartphones and electronic devices. People today have smartphones that have the computational capabilities of computers from more than 45 years ago. With the growing populous under this information age, individuals have access to so much data. It is a fantastic time to spread ideas as anyone can reach anybody else over the internet almost instantaneously. It is not too difficult to get into contact with anyone even if they are on the other side of the globe. This is the power of the 21st century and which has generated a team-oriented society. With this team based structure, people are looking more and more into ways to better manage groups of people, divide up tasks, and share a barrage of emails between one another. A mobile app development team, entitled NEED2FEED, was created to tackle the issue of disorganization that crops up in team-based work structures. The development team particularly focused on aiding local food pantries to create a system that allows for the easy management and communication between volunteers and event coordinators. As well as, to allow volunteers the ability to share photos and event posts with friends and family over social media. The idea behind the mobile app designed by the team was to tackle the issues that food pantries and many other volunteer organizations face with respect to a growing dependency on volunteers. What is needed is a system put in place that would allow an organization to prepare and keep track of volunteers during any occasion so that any organization will be able to effectively plan ahead for any event situation. To successfully accomplish a food pantry app, it was necessary to speak with event organizers from around the county. The mobile app team found that the necessity for a system that can meet all of the organization's needs, while performing them efficiently, was a real necessity.