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FRAMINGHAM – Yesterday, October 16, volunteers from Connect Church and David Blais of Daniel’s Table signed residents of Pelham Apartments in Framingham onto the OneCiti app.
The OneCiti campaign is a data collection app that tracks food insecurity in Framingham and according to Blais is the key to solving hunger in the City of Framingham.
Connect Church, located at 80 Beacon Street Framingham, brought 100 volunteers to the Pelham Apartments Community Center providing food, fun, crafts and games all while assisting residents on how to end food insecurity with the OneCiti app.
Pastor Clif and team went door-to-door wanting to introduce Daniel’s Table and the OneCiti app.
The OneCiti campaign launched June 4, beginning a data collection project to map out food insecurity across Framingham that Blais expects will take up to 9 months to complete.
By the end of August, the campaign had responses from 7% of homes in Framingham.
But with over 28,000 homes in Framingham, Blais said the nonprofit will need all hands on deck.
“We’re trying to get as many people in the community involved as possible,” Blais said. “This is a big project, but with a lot of hands, we can make it a lot easier on everybody.”
The campaign revolves around one question: Do you have challenges providing healthy food for your family OR are you feeling lonely or isolated?
By going to OnceCiti’s website, Framingham residents can find instructions on how to download the campaign app or call numbers listed at the bottom of the page to respond to this question.
Respondents can then answer whether they struggle with supplying food or need emergency aid.
For those who say they are feeling lonely or isolated, Blais said the campaign will connect people to mental health resources.
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“At the end of this campaign, we can type in any address in Framingham and know what’s happening within that home,” Blais said. “Are they okay, or are they in need of food, or are they feeling lonely or isolated.”
With each answer collected, software records the responses on a map of the City of Framingham, highlighting areas in green, yellow, and red—marking homes that are safe or most threatened by food insecurity. Once responses are recorded, OneCiti’s call center will respond to those who answered that they struggled with supplying food.
Now volunteers are going door-to-door to those who haven’t responded to the question to get an answer and to establish the need in the City of Framingham.
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Photos submitted to SOURCE media
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