This project was built for the HackBeanpot 2024 hackathon event, which took place from February 23-25, 2024.
We were brainstorming ideas on how to reduce food waste and came up with this exciting concept - a platform where you can share your leftover food with your neighbors. We call it Last Minute, and it's all about sharing the love of food while promoting a sense of community. The idea originated from the thought of sharing leftovers with people in the same dorm, but we quickly realized that everyone could benefit from such a platform, which eventually led us to create Last Minute!
Last Minute allows users to upload pictures of their leftover food, which can then be picked up by anyone in the area who needs a meal at the very last minute. Registering with Last Minute is easy - just sign in and create an account by clicking the button on the top right corner. Once you're logged in, you're free to share your leftovers by clicking the Share! button on the main page. Be sure to include a photo of the food, where it can be picked up, and how old it is. You can also describe the dish in more detail to help other users decide if it's something they'd like to try. Once you post your leftovers, they'll be uploaded to the main page where other users can access them by clicking on the photo you've uploaded. It's a win-win situation - you get to reduce food waste while your neighbors get to enjoy a free meal! Last Minute believes in bringing people together over a shared love of food. Who knows what conversations and friendships could be sparked over a delicious meal? But the benefits don't stop there. By reducing food waste, Last Minute is also making a positive impact on the environment. We aim to help users see the fun in discovering a new favorite dish or learning a new recipe from your neighbors by meeting them in person!
We built this web application on Visual Studio Code using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as our main languages for the front-end application. The back-end was built in JavaScript using Node.js for server-side programming and Express.js for the main back-end web application framework.
Our biggest challenge was our lack of experience. Not only were we lacking in Hackathon experience but also technological skills as well. Most if not all of our teammates were unfamiliar with web development, full-stack development, server-side programming, and frameworks. Most of us were unfamiliar with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, and none of us had any experience with Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB, and React. This meant we had a very limited time to learn the many skills necessary to build our application. Without much experience with Hackathons, we struggled during the brainstorming phase and had to give up on our first project idea relatively late in the game due to how complex and overly ambitious it was. We utilized Figma to visualize what we wanted and worked collaboratively to ensure not make the same mistake and that all website features were concise and effective. Another big problem we faced was learning React from scratch. After spending an excessive amount of time trying to build a single webpage using React, our team decided it would be best to focus on coding in plain JavaScript, HTML, and CSS since we had a couple of members who were relatively more familiar with it. Moreover, even though we didn't have much experience in web development, mentors were there to guide us through the process and help us grasp the concepts of front-end development. Overall, it was a challenging yet rewarding experience!
We didn't have much experience in web development as a team, so we decided to start from scratch. However, with the help of amazing mentors, we were able to not only finish the front-end development of the website but also worked on the database and back-end development too! As a team new to hackathons, we're proud that we became friends in such a short time by teaching each other about web development. We expanded our knowledge in this field and made wonderful memories that will last a lifetime. We're proud of ourselves for completing a project with our shared passion for computer science!
Throughout our time at the Hackathon, we learned many new skills, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Git, React, Vite, Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB. We also learned what it meant to work in a team of unfamiliar individuals by splitting tasks and supporting each other based on everyone's strengths and weaknesses. We learned to make hard decisions together when necessary in order to prioritize getting a project submitted in time.
Our team is determined to continue the back-end development and further enhance the database to store all the data and input for Last Minute. We also plan to add more features to our website, such as an online community space where people can share their leftover recipes with others, along with a comment section. Our goal is not only to provide opportunities for sharing food, but also to foster a sense of community among neighbors within our immediate environments while contributing to the environment by reducing food waste. Whether you're in a college dorm looking to share a snack or a resident in a communal apartment complex with meals to spare, Last Minute helps to contribute to a cycle of generosity. That's why we believe that Last Minute has the potential to make a large, significant, and unique positive impact, and we're excited to continue working on it.
- Visual Studio Code
- HTML5
- CSS
- JavaScript
- Node.js
- Express.js
- Figma
Check out our demo! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoLFhujOIqA
Try it out here! https://github.com/justwooki/HackBeanPot2024
This project was designed for the 2024 HackBeanpot event by Justin Kim, Yujin Park, Emily Ye, and Oscar Fang.