Get involved and challenge food insecurity in your community.

Apply programming skills to redistribute food

Our communities need help in so many ways and we have a bunch of skills to help. I have been working with the team at FoodBank of Santa Barbara County for a decade to raise awareness and money and came to recognize that I could combine two of my passions - addressing food insecurity through technology innovation. My first idea was to create a system that would make it easier to sort donated food (Foodbanks get millions of pounds a year and have to sort all of it manually) and we ran into a snag when we realized how expensive it would likely be to build an automated system. I decided to focus on another big problem - matching what has historically been wasted food with those in need of it. One of the biggest barriers to the reduction of food insecurity is the high volume of food waste that exists. Sounds crazy, right? Often, the waste from the retail food industry - eg restaurants - has been driven by the time and effort it takes them to document what excess they have available. It's easier to simply throw it away.

My goal is to help Foodbanks match food available from restaurants, caterers, and grocery stores with those who need it - in real time - with a bot that has learned to process UG photos of what food is available and match it with demand in the community.

I am happy to share more about this project (and can always use help!). Contact me at jacob@mansbach.com

Create a student volunteer program with your Foodbank

My brother and I founded a volunteer program at our local Foodbank for elementary, junior high and high school students and their friends and families. Our “Saturday Family Day” program gave us the opportunity to share education on hunger issues facing children and to inspire kids to get involved and help their community. One Saturday a month, our volunteers help the Foodbank with sorting and crating fresh produce and dry goods. Our program alone has introduced over 1,800 adult and 1,500 child volunteers to the Foodbank where we have processed over 900,000 pounds of food during Saturday Family Days since 2014.

If you would like to create a student volunteer program with your local Foodbank, send me an email and I can give you a few easy steps to get you started. Contact me at jacob@mansbach.com