Hunger Helper guides neighbors to verified meal sites by location, time, transit, and need. Food exists. We remove the barriers between people and the next meal.
Hunger Helper was one of five winning teams at GiveBackHack’s first 24-Hour Hack, pitched by our own crew and chosen from a field taking on the city’s hardest problems.
Read the recapWe’ve been selected for SEA Change’s 2026 cohort, joining a community whose alumni include Aunt Flow, POINT, and Peaceful Fruits.
About SEA ChangeIn a matter of months, Hunger Helper has gone from idea, to award winner, to accelerator cohort. The recognition is rolling in, and so is the work.
Verified, up-to-date meal sites people can actually rely on, found by phone, card, or web.
Turning meal-site data into action so communities can see gaps and direct resources where they’re needed most.
No confusing lists. No outdated information. Just the nearest open meal and the best way to get there.
Scan a QR card, send a text, or open the web navigator, whatever you have on hand.
QR card · SMS · WebUp-to-date, verified results on a map or list, with hours, location, and what to expect.
Map or listPick the best transit route to a verified meal site and get fed faster.
Verified sitesOne platform for two jobs: help people find meals today, and help communities strengthen meal access tomorrow.
Helping people find free meals faster, by location, time, transit, accessibility, and need.
Turning meal-site data into action so communities can see gaps, build capacity, and direct resources where they’re needed most.
Find nearby meals by text. No searching through confusing lists or outdated information.
Showing where meal access is missing, by neighborhood, time, transportation, service type, and urgency.
Helping partners coordinate faster when meal sites are stretched or community food needs spike.
Combining data and real community stories to show need, capacity, and where investment matters most.
Hunger Helper started with a simple observation: food is out there, but barriers (timing, transportation, and out-of-date information) keep people from reaching it. Watch how we began, and where we’re headed.
Hunger often isn’t about a shortage of food. It’s about the maze between a person and the next meal.
Vince is a working father of two. After long shifts and multiple bus rides, he often gets home after most meal sites have closed.
Hunger Helper makes it easier for Vince (or a family member or an older child) to find open meal sites, check verified information, and choose the best transit route, so the family gets fed faster.
Reaching that goal takes roughly $5 million in funding for outreach, technology, and community meal access. Every $130 prints 1,000 cards that put food within reach.
Prototype tested at GiveBackHack · By the people, for the people.
Everyone deserves to know where and how to get a meal, regardless of income, transportation, technology, or circumstance.
We prioritize verified, up-to-date information so people can rely on the resources they find.
People seeking food assistance deserve respect, compassion, and the freedom to make their own choices.
The best solutions come from neighbors, meal providers, volunteers, and people with lived experience working together.
We use data to improve access, identify gaps, and help communities make informed decisions.
Food exists. Hunger often happens because of barriers: transportation, timing, accessibility, and information gaps.
Today’s navigation becomes tomorrow’s optimization. We learn, adapt, and improve food systems over time.
A team of community builders, technologists, and food-justice advocates rooted in Central Ohio.
Precious leads Hunger Helper’s operations and programs, turning vision into systems that work. She brings more than 11 years of leadership across community advocacy, behavioral healthcare, program management, and global health research, all driven by a people-centered, equity-first approach.
Trained at Columbia University and focused on global health and systems-level impact, Precious sets the operational direction at Hunger Helper: directing programs, building partnerships, and holding every initiative to a standard of real, measurable food access. She is the engine that keeps the mission moving from idea to outcome.
An AmeriCorps VISTA member committed to strengthening communities through service and innovation, Leah brings strengths in social empathy, stakeholder networking, and volunteer administration.
With a background in operations management, Leah brings a strategic, people-centered approach to developing Hunger Helper, expanding access, improving systems, and driving measurable community outcomes.
Jonathon builds technology for the people usually left out. At HiSolver, an AI education startup founded out of Harvard, he helped create a platform that brings AI math tutoring to students in Brazil, now used by more than a thousand learners. He brings that same instinct, good engineering in service of access, to his work leading the technology at Hunger Helper.
Earlier in his career, Jonathon built software for Fortune 500 companies including Williams-Sonoma, Levi Strauss, and First Republic Bank, from enterprise design systems to a secure banking app for clients with over a million dollars in assets. Jonathon is matriculated as a part-time undergraduate at Harvard, where he studies economics and government at the Extension School.
Market manager of the Bronzeville Growers Market (the only full-service, African American owned and managed farmers market in Central Ohio) and a longtime food-justice leader.
She is the principal facilitator for the Bronzeville Agricademy and Bronzeville Urban Growers, leads Garfield Agrihood, and manages the Bronzeville Bethany and Mamie Mack Community Gardens. A founding member of the Urban Farmers Coalition, she consults for growing spaces across the community and presented a 2019 TEDx talk on food justice. Her work connects healthy food, growing it, and marketing it, especially within traditionally African-American communities, drawing on her international public health and African Diaspora work.
An AI consultant and technology builder with expertise in data architecture, programming, and full-stack development, with experience at Deloitte and The Ohio State University.
At Hunger Helper, Wesley leads AI development and system architecture, designing intelligent tools that power meal access, data insights, and platform performance, focused on accessible, efficient technology that drives real-world impact.
A GIS and data analyst specializing in geospatial mapping and database systems. At Hunger Helper he develops and manages data infrastructure, including the geolocation features that connect communities to food resources.
A certified IT professional (CompTIA, Microsoft, Cisco) specializing in SaaS environments. At Hunger Helper he strengthens the platform’s technical infrastructure, supporting scalable systems, improving user experience, and connecting communities to critical food resources.
Columbus is growing a powerful local food network of urban farms, emerging co-ops, and neighborhood grocers, all working to strengthen our communities.
Hunger Helper has joined the Bronzeville Growers (Central Ohio’s only full-service, African American owned and managed farmers market), connecting our work to an established, community-rooted food network.
Our fiscal sponsor. With Maroon Arts Group’s support, we’re building something bigger together, strengthening local food access across Columbus.
An interactive game experience that helps people feel the barriers between hunger and a meal, and how we clear them. Bring it to your classroom, congregation, or community event.
Know where to invest today, so fewer people are hungry tomorrow.
Help us get Hunger Helper into the hands of the people who need it most. Every gift prints cards and powers the navigator.
Sponsor neighbors and community meal sites, and get a first look at the Optimizer and the potential of your impact. We’ll set you up with secure access.
Request sponsor accessHave a meal site, a skill, or a few hours? Communities are built by neighbors working together. Let’s talk.
Get in touchSee the future of social enterprise in Central Ohio. Watch live pitches, meet entrepreneurs, and vote for your Crowd Favorite. Cheer us on!
Know a community meal site we should add? Want to partner or volunteer? Send it our way.