To better understand our problem, we were tasked with conducting customer discovery interviews. I was able to speak with Linda Metroulos (a board chair for Second Avenue Commons) and Katie Lemon (a 12 year volunteer with Operation Safety Net). I interviewed Linda first and presented her with the lack of socks problem. She informed me that she does not believe that that is a primary issue faced by the homeless population. She had overseen donations and this shelter had hundreds of socks, coats, shoes, gloves, and scarves available always. The main issue: lack of space to hold these donations. In fact, they have so much clothing being donated, that at times they have “multiple rooms filled”. She also mentioned a new initiative at Light of Life that was starting up at the time. They had recently opened a new donation center and “free shop” where people experiencing homelessness can come in and browse for essential items. This is also where Second Avenue Commons would give their overabundance of donations when necessary.
My second interview with seasoned volunteer Katie Lemon was also very insightful. She noted that the donation process is “difficult”. Specifically at operation Safety Net, they are understaffed, making it difficult for people who do want to donate to get a hold of them. Along with not having the manpower to take donations, they also do not have the space in their facility to hold all of them, similar to the problem that Linda references. Katie recounted a story to me where her friend had collected 600 pairs of socks to donate to the shelter, but they did not have the space to take them.
Our solution is an app that streamlines the communication between shelters, allows them to log and track inventory of donations, and request transfers of donations. This app would also offer a platform where people can volunteer to transport supplies from shelter to shelter, making the volunteering process more convenient and time-flexible. Upon opening the app, it will prompt you to register as either a shelter/organization or as a volunteer.
Shelters and organizations will have access to an inventory page where they can add, delete, and classify items by category, size, and quantity of item. They can choose to either make their log public or private to volunteers and/or other shelters. Publicizing this inventory would help to clarify the shelter’s needs in terms of donations. Shelters would also be able to request a transfer of donation items. This feature would benefit shelters who do not have the necessary space to hold all donations and the shelters that have a scarcity of certain items. This is to ensure that the appropriate donations are going to the organizations that would find them most useful.
Volunteers will have access to an interactive map, which will indicate where there are delivery opportunities. As an alternative option, users will also have access to a list view. By selecting a delivery, users will be redirected to a confirmation page that will show them where they are picking up the items and where they will be transporting them. It will also show which item they are picking up and how much of it they will be transporting. If volunteers confirm and complete the delivery, they can then earn points and unlock badges. This gamifies the volunteering process, while also offering low-commitment volunteering opportunities that users can complete on their own schedule.
