Key Highlights:
- Google unveils its new Find Food Support website which aims to tackle food insecurity.
- The new website lists 90,000 locations that provide free meals.
- Google also plans to release five new YouTube films to help de-stigmatize food insecurity.
Google Tackling Food Insecurity
Google, in its continuous endeavor to help in the rising food insecurity problem, has announced the launch of a new tool to bypass this.
Google unveiled its new Find Food Support website, which aims to link people struggling with food insecurity with services such as food banks, school lunch programs, and food pantries. Google stated that it collaborated with No Kid Hungry, FoodFinder, and the U.S. Data on food assistance programs around the country will be collected by the Department of Agriculture.
The application contains a Google Maps location that allows users to identify the closest food bank, school meal program, or other assistance programs. There are presently 90,000 sites across all 50 United States, with more on the way. Users may discover a nearby place by typing their address into the search field, which will provide appropriate results.
The new tool is the work of the company’s Food for Good team, formerly known as Project Delta when it was part of Alphabet’s X moonshot division.
The goal of Project Delta is to develop a better and smarter food system to assist those in need. This system incorporates data standardization to strengthen the interaction between non-profit organizations and food distributors in order to reduce food waste.
De-stigmatizing food insecurity
Google stated in a blog post that the COVID-19 epidemic aggravated the challenges of hunger and food insecurity for many Americans. The number of individuals without access to “a sufficient quantity of affordable food” increased by over 30% from 2019 to 45 million in 2020.
Food insecurity afflicted about 45 million individuals in the country, or one in every seven Americans, including over 15 million children.
Aside from the new food locating tool, Google plans to release five new YouTube films to help de-stigmatize food insecurity.
The application will also contain connections to various food assistance hotlines, benefit guidelines by state, and information for underserved populations such as families and children, the elderly, and military families.
COVID-19 Relief
Google made a donation of 113 million rupees ($15 million) to GiveIndia to assist in the development of oxygen-generating facilities and the operation of skilling programs for Accredited Social Health Activists personnel.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, stated that they wanted to help individuals in India afflicted by the current COVID-19 outbreak and that they will continue to seek methods to help.
The business stated that it will collaborate closely with GiveIndia, Apollo Medskills, PATH, and ARMMAN to focus on establishing oxygen generating plants and expanding the health workforce by boosting COVID-19 management skills among frontline workers.
Also read: Google’s Contribution Towards Advancements in the Healthcare Sector
