Chapter 12: Globalization, Innovation, and 21st Century Organizational Trends{0}
Food banks go high-tech to feed the hungry
According to the article posted on Businessweekly.com food banks all over the country are currently have a “high-tech revolution”. They are adopting advanced databases, GPS tracking, using bar codes, and other such technologies. The new technologies have help food banks come a long way from past years of passing out canned food and macaroni. The new innovations will allow food banks to supply much more people because hunger has become a never-ending problem. The effort is led by the organization Feeding America which currently is having such food banks from Seattle and New York test a $60 million effort to supply the needy. The Athena Project is the name of the effort by Feeding America.
“The Athena Project, which started rolling out this summer, will let food banks upgrade and standardize accounting, inventory and donor software, take full advantage of the Internet, and manage pickups and deliveries much the same way FedEx or UPS track packages.” Feeding America which is based in Chicago is installing the systems at no charge. The result will hopefully provide local food banks with more of the much needed food to feed people. The project is set to be completed in about five years and will save food banks millions of dollars that would go to cost of operating tasks. The money that is saved from the innovations will go to buy more food and provide more services. Some of the benefits of the new innovations are GPS tracking, inventory management systems, generating food list, and common software and back up servers which will help food banks around the world provide better services and more food.
Reference: Tibbits, George. (2009). The Associated Press. Food banks go high-tech to feed the hungry. Businessweek. Retrieved from: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9C7T37O0.htm