First place: App to help save lives
Second place: App to feed more disadvantaged
Caption L to R: Tom Horn, Jason Maclalich, Eric Tam, Adam Dill-Macky, Ilan Lowbeer
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, Sunday 23 September, 2012: The Vodafone Foundation is pleased to announce St John Ambulance NSW has clinched first place in its App Aid charity challenge. The charity has been awarded a $30,000 donation for its ‘Responder App’ – a smartphone app to support volunteers when responding to emergency situations. With just a few taps of the app, volunteers will be able to access essential information quickly when they are out in the field, including patient guides and checklists.
Oz Harvest claimed second place in App Aid with its pioneering app to help tackle food waste in Australia. The Vodafone Foundation awarded the charity with a $10,000 donation for its ingenious app allowing restaurants and cafes to notify OzHarvest when they have available food for rescue in real time. OzHarvest can then collect more food in a timely manner in order to feed more disadvantaged people.
St John Ambulance and OzHarvest were two of ten charities that signed up for the App Aid challenge, which connected charities with volunteer App developers. Participants were tasked with the daunting challenge of building an App from scratch in just 48 hours.
And if the task of designing and building an App in two sleepless days sounds overwhelming, try then having to having to front Silicon-Valley heavy weight and former chief evangelist of Apple, Guy Kawasaki, in a Dragons’ Den inspired pitch, as part of the unique charity initiative.
All ten participating charities rose to the challenge of pitching their App prototypes to the Silicon Valley legend. The charity app presented ranged from facilitating donations, fostering volunteering, entertaining seriously ill kids and finding homes for pets, with Guy Kawasaki praising their achievements. “Some of the ideas presented to our judging panel at App Aid have been on par with what I’ve seen in Silicon Valley.”
But, at the conclusion of the 48 hour event, one charity team stood out in the eyes of the judging panel.
“St John Ambulance proved to our panel that their idea could assist in saving lives on a state and a national level. The passion from the winning team was clearly demonstrated through their inspiring and convincing pitch,” said Guy Kawasaki.
First place: ‘Responder App’, St John Ambulance NSW, by app developer goCatch.com.au
The devised app is to support St Johns’ Ambulance NSW volunteers when they are out in the field by providing them with access to necessary information including tips, checklists and patient treatment guides to assist in emergency treatment.
Responder app uses the GPS capability of the iPhone to show where an emergency is located on a map. Crucial information about the status and nature of the emergency can be shared through the entire St John organisation allowing logistical response to be optimised.
Second place: ‘OzHarvest App’, OzHarvest, by Stuart Hall, Samuel Cochran and Simon Seeber
The pioneering app aims to allow more restaurants and cafes to notify OzHarvest when they have food available for rescue so they can plan and coordinate the process of food rescues in real time, in order to maximise the benefit of thousands of recipients.
Quotes:
Guy Kawasaki, Former Apple Evangelist, on first place App
“The concepts produced for App Aid were so impressive considering they only had 48 hours to come up with an idea. St John Ambulance proved to our panel that their idea could assist in saving lives on a state and a national level. The passion from the winning team was clearly demonstrated through their inspiring and convincing pitch.”
Guy Kawasaki on second place App
“Some of the ideas presented to our judging panel at App Aid have been on par with what I’ve seen in Silicon Valley. OzHarvest also produced an appealing and practical app concept. Their idea translated well, and I’m looking forward to seeing the the idea come to life.”
Ronnie Kahn, Founding Director of OzHarvest
“What an extraordinary concept that The Vodafone Foundation came up with, The initiative engaged volunteers in the most amazing way and provided an incredibly useful tool for the community. We are proud to have been recognised and believe it will make a significant difference to OzHarvest.”
Ilan Lowbeer, State Support Services Officer, St John Ambulance NSW
“To win App Aid feels amazing. I’m extremely overwhelmed and humbled to be recognised for our idea. Through our app we will be able to target the volunteering community in a unique and engaging way.”
Jason MacLulich, Head of goCatch.com.au
“We feel very privileged to be a part of the winning team at App Aid. It was a great experience to support a charity that we have such a strong alignment with.”
Demelza Farr, Head of Vodafone Foundation
“We were absolutely overwhelmed with the magnitude of innovation that was demonstrated through the ideas presented at App Aid. While there were so many fantastic ideas, the stand out was St John Ambulance, but beyond that it was great to see a strong comradery between the charities”, said Demelza Farr, Head of Vodafone Foundation and Judge of App Aid.
“We received over 150 entries from Australian charities keen to participate in App Aid. To have that many reputable NGOs eager to participate in this completely new and strange world of software development, and to put themselves through 48 gruelling hours, really demonstrates how Australian charities are finding the need to turn to apps to reach their communities in a new and relevant way.”
“Technology is changing the way NGOs work. There is this new gravity towards using mobile to overcome humanitarian challenges. Technology is being used to connect families from disaster, empower health workers with data to help combat disease, track the impacts of climate change and so much more. Our goal with App Aid is to spur mobile innovation to help solve some of the challenges faced by charities and their communities,” Demelza continues.