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By Greg Bartlett

With Thanksgiving passed and the rest of the holidays still to come, many are grateful for the opportunity to spend time with family and friends, enjoying fellowship, fun, and food. Unfortunately, a great number of Americans this season will be forced to seek their meals from food banks, churches, and shelters. Efforts by these charities to reach out to those in need are plentiful, yet inefficiency and disorganization can quickly become an issue in churches trying to provide for so many hungry people. Getting food out to where it’s needed most is a managerial nightmare without the proper tools. How can technology, specifically GPS trackers, aid the hungry?

The Athena Project, a $60 million dollar initiative by Feeding America, thinks it has the answer. The effort is developing and installing advanced tracking and management equipment in roughly 200 food banks across the country. GPS trackers will be installed on delivery vehicles and aid packages, allowing management staff to keep tabs on it all. The technology will also allow drivers to pick more efficient routes, saving much needed cash in a non-profit industry hit just as hard by the recession as anyone else.

GPS & Hunger

Waste will be reduced, and in the event of a food product recall (a nightmare scenario to aid workers), management will be able to quickly identify those who received contaminated goods. Also, the information provided by GPS trackers will allow food banks to compare those regions covered by their workers and adjust their responsibilities in the case of overlap.

Charities have just as much need for efficiency as any other organization. While their concern obviously isn’t profit, the bottom line is often aiding the needy in a way that best makes use of their donors’ funds. The savings provided by GPS trackers and advanced fleet management systems truly can help. In this case, GPS trackers made a fine donation to food banks which didn’t individually have the extra cash to invest in such a system, yet will greatly benefit from its use.

Feeding America’s affiliates serve more than 25 million in the US annually, including 3 million seniors and 9 million children. The organization handles over 2.5 billion pounds of found each year. Such a large operation, especially since eclipsed by other similar organizations, demonstrates the great need for organization and efficiency in aid groups across the country. GPS trackers, selected and implemented carefully, can be a great part of that.