food banks

Tips On How To Help The Homeless

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The times we are living in are tough and nowadays it isn’t as easy to find a secure job as it once was (in the USA). A lot of people are doing their best to go through the 9 to 5 daily work routine and provide basic needs for their families. Still, it seems like the homeless problem has never been as wide before – some people lost their home due to wrong business moves, others simply didn’t have an equal chance. Whatever is the reason it isn’t a nice thing to see and we should all start growing social responsibility towards each other and them.

Just imagine what you would do if you were in a similar position? You would probably expect and hope that the passengers coming by will try to help you in some way. On the other hand, our society seems to be growing indifferent of people in dire need and we need to stop that.

Helping the homeless with at least something is always better than nothing. Even a good talk will make them feel better and make them change their views. You can make someone’s day without a lot of effort and you should know that. We are all connected, and we should all try to care about each other.

Without further ado let’s go ahead and take a look at a few tips on how to help the homeless.

USA / San Francisco / May 2004
Christine beg to many on Fulton street of San Francisco. The city spends $200 million a year trying to get homeless people off the streets and into a better way of life – but over 20 years, the problem has only gotten worse.
† Fatih Pinar / Anzenberger

Few Tips On Helping The Homeless

  1. Well, the first step is not just passing by but stopping and actually engaging with that homeless person. What might take a few minutes of your time may well as well change the day or even life of another person. Ask them how is their day, have a nice and warm talk with them and be ready to listen. Even if you aren’t able to help them financially this will mean a lot to them.
  2. Give that change that you would usually put in the back of your pocket after grocery shopping to the people that need it the most. A few dollars will not change your life while you might as well help someone manage it through the day and get better chances of stepping back on track. The deed of giving is what is important – the amount of money isn’t. And if you are in a financial possibility take them to a food place and eat together. This will mean a lot to them as you will both engage and make them And for those of you that are better standing believe us taking a homeless person for a makeover or renting a room for a few nights can be a life-changing thing for them.
  1. If you are any kind of employer and need new workers don’t look only at the official job market. There are a lot of people that are out there on the streets who are ready to work much harder than someone whose life doesn’t depend solely on the income they would receive from you. Go out and ask people if they are interested in being your employee (of course, if the job position is suitable). Believe us they will gladly accept it and be ready to give there 100%.
  2. Last but not least helping out the homeless shelters and food banks is one of the best things you can do. If you don’t know any near you, go ahead and check the ones listed on the Grace’s List. This website has hundreds of homeless shelters and you will be able to find the nearest one in a matter of a few minutes just by going to the homeless shelters for families near me sector. Go out, ask what kind of help is needed and even apply to volunteer.

Summary

Sharing is caring and believe us giving to homeless people will make their day or even life better, and you will know that you did the right thing. And believe us at the end every good deed that you did will get back at you double time!

The man behind world’s first crowd food-sharing platform

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Today we got the opportunity to ask some questions on food waste to Somdip Dey, the developer of ReMe Basket, an android application, which reminds the user of the expiry date of the food items in the fridge. It also gives recipe suggestions based on the same items if the goods have gone past the date so that the food does not go to waste. Somdip provides his opinion and answers to the related questions as follows.

What are the current statistics on food waste?

Source:olioex.com

According to World Hunger Education Services, in 2017 on an average 33% of 4 billion metric tons, which equates to 1.33 billion metric tons, of food production was wasted and 1 out of every 9 people on the planet went to bed empty stomach. Statistics from the same organization also mentions that an average family in the UK wastes around £700 because of food waste.

Do you believe that people are aware of these statistics?

Maybe some people do know, but the majority are not really aware of these statistics. Personally speaking, given today’s busy work-life schedule some details related to how much food I am eating or throwing in the bin without eating becomes really difficult to track. So, from my personal experience, I think some people regardless of knowing these pressing facts on food waste, are not really able to divert their energy and focus on solving the issue because of so many other personal and/or professional issues that catch our attention throughout the day.

What can be done to stop food waste on an individual level?

Source:rockefellerfoundation.org

There are so many things that we can do, either small or big, to reduce food waste. First, we can start recording how much food we consume and how much we end up wasting. I know this thing is tedious in our given busy work-life routine, but once you start doing it for some time, it becomes natural and inherent to follow the schedule after some time. In this way, we can keep track of how much food we really need and we can just buy that much amount from next time instead. There are few apps which could help you to keep track of how much food you consume on a daily basis but most of them are not free to use. So, find any possible way to keep track o your food consumption, whichever way it feels natural or easy for you.

Second, we should keep track of the expiry date of the food items that we buy. Personally, sometimes I buy food and forget them in the fridge because of working overtime in the office or missing a dinner schedule at home. So, keeping track of food items and their expiry date is important because many times expired food items contribute to food waste and is one of the serious concerns related to this. You can use either a sticky note to put on top of the fridge to remind you some of the recent expiry dates so that you do not end up forgetting. You can also use apps that could remind you of this simple task. ReMe Basket is one such app, which could aid you in this and is the first of its kind to remind you a food item’s “gone-by” date.

Third, even if the food has gone by expiry date, do not just throw it in the bin. Sometimes food items are still edible even if they have gone past the shelf date. Have a look at the item and inspect it closely before binning it. You might be able to cook something from the item even after it has gone past shelf date.

Fourth, if you have got leftovers then do not just throw the leftover away. Share the leftovers with your friends and/or neighbors. There are some food banks in your local area who might accept such leftovers or you can use apps for this as well.

What is your plan for ReMe Basket in the future?

Source;betapage.co

Right now, ReMe Basket can help an individual to keep track of expiry date and suggest recipes on the food items that are on the list with ease. But I am developing methodologies to introduce artificial intelligence to make this task much easier for an individual such that the app can also suggest the user on which food items to buy or not to buy as well. In 2014, I have also co-developed the world’s first crowd food sharing platform, and I am also planning to introduce the concept in ReMe Basket so that the user can share the food items with people in need easily through the app. At the moment I am pursuing Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Essex and thus finding time to develop these key features is tricky, given my busy schedule. But we can expect them to arrive in the application very soon.

Tell us more about the crowd-food-sharing platform? What happened to it?

In 2014, my colleagues and I at Codeepy, which was initially a hackathon group at the University of Manchester, co-developed SHARE.It, which was the world’s first crowd-food-sharing platform and we won a prize category at the 2014 Koding’s Global Hackathon. We won the 3Scale API award in the competition and one of the only hackathon teams from the UK to have won a prize in this prestigious global hackathon event. The application could search for nearby users who needed the leftover food and then provide location based pickup or food dropping services. Later we attracted some clients, who also bought private equity on the application. After that, we sold the app to them. Unfortunately, I am not being able to disclose their name in public.

Any last advice to conclude this article?

Although food waste seems like a huge issue in our modern society, where we still have so many people around the world going to bed starving or children suffering from malnutrition, yet many of us do not do anything about it. I think we all need to do our part to reduce food waste and improve lives. At the end, we are also the one who will be saving money in the long run if we do not overbuy or waste food. We have to start taking food waste seriously from now on, but baby steps can definitely take us a long way.