During the 2024 Technovation season, a team from Norwood Young America, Minnesota, created an app to support a nonprofit organization called Bountiful Baskets Food Shelf. The team, composed of two sisters from Central High School, aimed to use their newly acquired coding skills to give back to a cause close to their hearts. This effort continued their family’s tradition of donating time and resources to Bountiful Baskets.
Amber Kester, the team’s mentor, introduced us to Team Sandeen Sisters, comprised of Rebecca and Abigail Sandeen. Rebecca, a junior, participated in Technovation for the third year, while Abigail, a freshman, joined the competition for the first time. As a mentor at Central High School for nine years, Amber had witnessed many teams tackle local issues with their app projects. However, it was rare for her to see a team directly collaborate with a nonprofit organization as the primary focus of their app.
To better understand their journey, Amber asked the Sandeen sisters a few questions about their process and what inspired them to choose a local nonprofit as the centerpiece of their app.
Q: Why did you choose a nonprofit for your app?
Rebecca and Abigail:
“We wanted our app to be of use to something that is close to us. We would be able to see the benefits of the app in our own community.”
Q: What is your connection to Bountiful Baskets Food Shelf?
Rebecca and Abigail:
“It is the local food shelf in the town we are from. We started becoming interested in Bountiful Baskets when we toured for Leos, which is a volunteer organization for young people in our community supported by the Lions Club.”
Q: What was the nonprofit’s response to your app idea?
Rebecca and Abigail:
“They were very excited to hear that someone was interested in helping them, especially that kids would be interested in it.”
Looking Ahead
Team Sandeen Sisters plans to continue refining the Bountiful Baskets Food Shelf Customer App during this year’s Technovation season. Their updates include:
- Adding a new location and updated hours.
- Enhancing the resources page.
- Revamping the app’s branding and features.
- Introducing multilingual support to accommodate the diverse languages spoken by the food shelf’s customers.
Rebecca and Abigail’s dedication to community service and technological innovation is inspiring, and we can’t wait to see the positive impact their app will have on Bountiful Baskets and the community it serves.
A special thank you to Rebecca, Abigail, and their mentor Amber Kester for sharing their story and inspiring others through their work.