The Goals

From January to May 2022, I worked with three other students on designing a digital data system for a local food pantry, El Buen Samaritano (EBS). EBS is a non-profit organization offering food, clothes, and services to the Worcester community. We wanted to provide an improved system that will simplify the daily operation in El Buen Samaritano and assist in gaining increased funding and grants. We aimed to facilitate and simplify the food distribution and data management process for them. Shifting from the current pen-and-paper system to a digital system, the non-profit organization will be able to minimize redundancy and effectively record and analyze data for expanding its services.

What I did

• Built and streamlined an excel template that will intake weekly client data, and output a formatted monthly report. The excel template handles more than 500 clients' data per month, saving the staff at EBS 20 hours per month on manually organizing the data.
• Conducted interviews with several food banks and food pantries to learn about potential solutions that we can implement.
• Communicated and collaborated with the staff at EBS to understand their needs, requirements, and expectations for the data system.
• Digitized the food pantry’s weekly survey form and helped translate the survey into five languages.