More about FoodCircles:
Two women enjoy a drink at Stella's Lounge, one of FoodCircle's participating restaurants. /FoodCircles
Since December 2013, FoodCircles has provided 394 dinners to local children in need. 305 days worth of food has been created for malnourished children in West Africa. A total of 2,239 meals have gone to hungry children. They've been able to do that through a unique mobile app designed to help fight child hunger. The app allows users to purchase an appetizer or dessert for as little as $1 at participating restaurants, and then redeem the voucher at the restaurant. All donations go to feeding hungry children, and users have the option to donate more than $1.
“Of 90 meals in a month, many of us eat 15 or more that are not prepared by our own hands [when we eat out]. This is a true opportunity to make a difference. Even if you use our app just for two of those meals, we will feed upwards of 5,000 hungry children this year,” says FoodCircles founder Jonathan Kumar.
FoodCircles continues to set goals. One of them is to introduce a “gift economy” to help their users see where their friends are eating, how many kids they're feeding and send a $1 dish or a "three-pack" to them. Better storytelling is also another goal- to help share the story of a hungry child through redeeming a voucher, involving the staff at the restaurant and by sending an email post purchase. FoodCircles hopes to expand the number of charities from just the two they currently help, Kid's Food Basket and World Vision, to 10-12 charities in 2014. These charities would not be limited to just Grand Rapids, but could also include Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo and Holland.
“Diners are literally helping a person live and not die, just by buying a $1 dish,” says Kumar.
In addition, FoodCircles is working on increasing ways that others can get involved. It is currently testing a service “For Organizers." By filling out a form, people planning an event can save time and money while feeding hungry children. They do this by sharing their needs with FoodCircles and letting FoodCircles get "bids" from their restaurants for the event.
The app is available through the iPhone app store or Google Play for Android.
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