REDEMPTION MEDIA BLOG

UK Foodbank App Launched

Available now‚ Foodbank App for iOS and Android created by Redemption Media.

Download the free Foodbank App, support your local Foodbank and help end hunger in the UK.

Despite being the 6th largest economy in the world, 13 million people in the UK live below the poverty line. Last year, Foodbanks fed around 350 000 people in the UK, that’s equivalent to a city the size of Cardiff or Coventry. There are well over 400 local Foodbanks nationwide, and new Foodbanks are opening every week.

Foodbanks rely entirely on food donations from the public to help people in crisis. But as supporters of our own local Sheffield S6 Foodbank, we know how easy it is to forget to buy a few extra tins of tuna or packets of cornflakes when we visit the supermarket, and sometimes we don’t remember details of the specific items that our Foodbank needs.

As an experienced and successful app development company, we at Redemption Media decided to use our skills to develop a smartphone app that allows our local Foodbank to communicate which items they require and how urgently, so that supporters would always have the Foodbank shopping list at their fingertips.

We launched the Sheffield S6 Foodbank app in December 2012 and the app has resulted in both an increase in food donations and a better matching of what is needed to what is given. The app has also allowed the Sheffield S6 Foodbank to communicate with supporters when they need volunteers or have good news items to share.

After the success of our local app, we wanted to give other Foodbanks the opportunity to benefit from this excellent resource so we decided to roll out the app to the rest of the UK.

After making some key improvements and adding new features to the app, we launch the app nationwide on 3rd March 2014.

Supporters go to the Apple App Store (iOS users) or Google Play Store (Android users) and download the Foodbank app for free. They are then asked to select their local Foodbank from a dropdown list and are then able to see the unique shopping list, news items and information for that Foodbank.

Staff at each Foodbank have their own content management system and can update their shopping list, add information and even send notifications (instant messages) to supporters as frequently as they wish.

With over 40 Foodbanks signed up to the app and more being added every week, we are really excited about the impact that the app will have on the work of the Foodbanks nationwide. We are really proud of the technology that we have developed to support this app and have integrated several new features that we hope will make the app even more effective. For example, supporters can use the app to set a weekly alarm to remind them to pick up items for the Foodbank when they do their weekly grocery shop.

As uptake of the app increases, we have plans to add additional features and provide resources to the Foodbanks to help them use the app to maximum effect. We also hope to offer the app to Foodbanks in other nations across the world.