Support The Nourish Network's Journey to Nationals

My name is Jim Chandley and I'm a Computer Science teacher in Providence, Rhode Island. I also have the honor to be the advisor to The Nourish Network, a team of students from Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School who recently won the RI MESA State Championship!

MESA (Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement) is a technological design competition for middle and high school students which focuses on asking said students to try to rectify inequities in their communities. Our RI State Champs, The Nourish Network, chose to focus on the inequity of food insecurity, which has touched the team itself.

Using their considerable programming, design, and innovation skills, these brilliant young people have developed ambitious tools to help food banks serve those in need more efficiently and effectively. They've created an app to manage food pantry inventory, allow online ordering, and even AI-assisted hardware to sort through physical inventory to "pick" orders.

By virtue of their victory in the RI State competition, this team has the opportunity to travel to San Diego, California, to compete in the National Engineering and Design Competition. This represents a tremendous opportunity on many fronts. Simply attending (let alone winning) is a tremendous addition to the resumes of four fantastically bright young students. But appearing at the NEDC may well mean opportunities for grant funding to turn their prototype into a more polished, large-scale solution for food banks everywhere.

But for this to come to pass, we must secure funding so that they can travel to California. We are seeking $5,000 in donations to cover airfare, hotel accommodations, meals, and registration fees for the competition. Please help these young people reach the next level of the competition they've worked so hard at already.