CommunityFi for Good was established with one goal in mind: leverage the latest technology to improve the efficiency of food banks and pantries. Today in the United States, 53 million people, including over 9 million children, turn to food banks for the most basic needs. Unfortunately, the recent global pandemic has caused a drastic increase in food insecurity and is pushing these organizations to the breaking point.

The Challenge

Most of these pantries are grassroots organizations run by unpaid volunteers on 100% donated equipment, including refrigeration and vehicles causing an increased likelihood of failure. In addition, these organizations are often in high-crime areas to best serve the community, leaving them vulnerable to theft and vandalism.

Since these pantries are underfunded, budgets for security and technology are out of the question, as many struggles to even pay rent. Therefore, a single failure could often mean dozens of families go without food. Building a solution that is both cost-effective as well as flexible is key to serving as many food pantries as possible. Thanks to our partnership with TagoIO and Helium, we were able to build a robust, low-cost solution that enables self-service to drive down the cost of labor to install these solutions.

The Solution

CommunityFi for Good saw an opportunity to make a difference in the communities. We serve by building a unique offering to address the needs of these agencies. Through our partnership with TagoIO and utilizing the Helium Network, we can provide mission-critical refrigeration, security monitoring solutions, and GPS tracking at no cost. The goal is to help ensure the most vulnerable among us are fed. Now, these organizations know immediately when a refrigeration or security event occurs.

The Results

In a recent outage, a food pantry was able to respond quickly and prevent the spoilage of over $10,000 worth of food destined for families’ tables. In addition, multiple pantries have stated that having security sensors has drastically reduced the number of vandalism incidents they experience to almost zero by deterring would-be criminals. 

These organizations have been incredibly thankful for our help. Some have even endorsed us and helped build more solutions for other community services. Finally, these results would not be possible without the partnership and incredible support from TagoIO.

“On behalf of the many thousands of families we serve, thank you for helping us fight hunger in the United States!” – CommunityFi team