Early in the COVID-19 pandemic Vancouver’s Limage Media Group created a public Google Map tracking the status of free and low-cost meals across the city.
The idea was inspired by founder Stephanie Limage‘s personal experiences with poverty and homelessness as she exited out of the child welfare system as a young adult.
One year later, over 200,000 people have used Limage’s map and it is now available a physical map in five languages thanks to a partnership with the City of Vancouver. In addition to serving as a way-finding tool, the maps reduce the number of individual requests for status updates that meal providers are currently receiving.
Now Limage is developing the concept into a software-as-a-service platform called Give + Share.
Give + Share’s humanitarian mission is to unify pre-existing resources and streamline outdated processes in order to ensure that the most vulnerable have access to valuable resources.
Using technology, Give + Share will progress the delivery model of humanitarian action—saving lives, alleviating human suffering, and mitigating the economic and social impact of disasters such as COVID -19.
Currently in alpha testing, the Give + Share app unifies and manages the flow of data and updates of free to low-cost meals, shelter and other community resources all in one location.
Give + Share is free and simple to use with downloadable tutorials on humanitarian best practices & governance tools for non-government organization (NGO) and non-profit organization (NPO) frontline workers.
In addition, Give + Share provides frontline workers and organizations templates to adopt humanitarian best practices as well as downloadable static maps & resources for internal and external distribution to provide tools for those who may not have access to the internet.
Limage is currently fundraising for sponsor support and plans to license the platform to organizations and governments to support humanitarian architecture within an urban context and delivery model.
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