Brearley Students Create App To Help Hungry Kids In NYC

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A group of students at The Brearley School on the Upper East Side have created a prototype for an app that would allow users help provide lunches to students in New York City schools who may otherwise go hungry, and have already garnered a $2,000 grant from the Allstate Foundation to help get it started. Senior Alyssa Kapasi is leading the effort for "Team Fig," which formed last school year to create the app called “Food for Thought.”

Kapasi said she came across the Peace First Challenge while searching for different activities that would give her an opportunity to make a difference in the community. Already a tutor for Breakthrough New York, she gathered a group of her classmates who she knew would be reliable and of great help and decided to focus on food equality in the city.

“People at BTNY were talking about kids who don’t always get enough food at home,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know that’s an issue. It’s not that obvious because usually when you think of feeding the hungry, it is about starving children in Africa.”

But during her research into the topic, Kapasi learned that about one in four students in NYC go hungry as well.

Team Fig, which includes Kapasi, Emma Yang, Fiona Xu, Ivy Mao and Gabrielle Rich, was then on the move, with a goal to get the app up and running by the time the 2018-2019 school year begins. A prototype already exists, thanks in large part to the Peace First Challenge partnering with Allstate’s “Good Starts Young” initiative.

This year Allstate's youth empowerment campaign included a rally in Chicago back in June when 10 school projects, including Team Fig, were selected from about 300 submissions nationwide to be awarded a $2,000 grant.

“We reached out to youth groups all over the country and wanted to give them a challenge to find an issue in the community that can be addressed and to find a solution for,” said Laura Freveletti, senior program officer at the Allstate Foundation.

Freveletti said it was “really tough” to sort through all the good projects submitted and pick the top ten.

“We looked for the impact or outcome of the project, how much compassion was shown for others and how it was courageous.”

The rally brought together the 10 projects selected for the grants. It was a culmination of a multi-day stay in Chicago for the students involved, a trip that included intense work on their projects with help from business experts.

At the end of the stay, six judges evaluated the projects and selected one that plans to provide wardrobe assistance to foster children as the sole winner of a $10,000 grant.

Freveletti said she was just as impressed with Team Fig.

“This group recognized the needs of other young people and really took it to the enth degree on how to address the solution on a wide scale.”

Kapasi said once the app is complete, users will be able to donate as little as $2 or $3 to support one student’s lunch for one day through their desktop or mobile device. It will play off the “pay it forward” concept that’s gained steam at restaurants.

“With the money from Allstate, we are using it to further develop the interface and security apparatus,” Kapasi said. “We want to make sure it is as secure as possible and easy for people to use.”

The recipients of the donor’s funds will be anonymous. Kapasi said her group plans to meet with principals and officials from several New York schools to determine who would qualify for the benefit from the donations.

“Only the school will know who is getting the benefits,” she said. “Different schools have different access to parent income. We will try to use the wealth and income of some to our advantage.”

Kapasi hopes the app will gain even more steam as her group applies to more competitions. Supporters can help fund the effort through the Team Fig GoFundMe page.

“We believe this is something that can work for thousands of children in New York City, and if successful can help kids across America,” Kapasi said.

Photo provided