Reported by Cassie Tammy Wang
Greater Princeton AYLUS (GPA) “Community Service Team” came to TigerLabs in Princeton, NJ on Sunday, August 25, 2019, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm (2 hours).
GPA volunteered with Blockchain Princeton in their Giving Chain mentorship project, specifically a summer project aimed to reduce food waste and food insecurity. We recognized that local farmers would often end up with lots of excess produce, while many people suffering from food insecurity rarely have access to fresh produce. In hopes of alleviating both problems, they created a supply chain and used blockchain to track the process of initiating and delivering fresh produce. We also tried to lessen the mental burden for those picking up the food, by making it anonymous with the use of donation tags and recipient tags instead of personal information. We were involved in the communication with local farmers (to pick up excess produce), the packaging and delivery process, but it was amazing to listen in on weekly meetings and discuss ideas with these organizations.
GPA members Abigail Bao, Angela Bao, Xin Chen, Richard Wang, and Cassie Tammy Wang attended “Project Day” of the Summer Blockchain Project. Blockchain Princeton (BCP) and Ledger Academy are encouraging donations for local residence with Food Insecurity. GPA Members organized and placed collected food and hygiene items into the Blockchain bags and recorded the information on the corresponding sheets of paper. In total more than 70 bags of produce and hygiene products were donated to the Food Pantry and other local charities.
Starting from July 24, 2019, GPA members has been actively involved in this Blockchain Summer Community Service Project. From picking produce from local farms, going to the Farmer’s Market for donations, coming to the meetings, sharing ideas, packing bags, documenting information and more, this has been quite an experience for the members.
