In a country where billions of pounds of food get wasted every year, one app is connecting the dots between those who have excess food and those who need it. Copia, a food recovery app, collects surplus food from companies and distributes it to organizations that serve people in need. Companies can use the app to order a food pickup after an event, for instance, and Copia will come retrieve the fare and drop it off at a local pantry, shelter or soup kitchen. "Hunger is the world's dumbest problem, especially in the world's wealthiest country," Komal Ahmad, the app's founder, said. "It's a distribution problem. We get food from those who have it to those who need it." Food waste is a huge issue in the United States: 31 percent of the available food supply, or 133 billion pounds, went uneaten in 2010. This is in a country in which almost 50 million Americans ... live in food insecure households. "Hunger is pervasive," said Margarette Purvis, President of Food Bank of NYC. "It's a horrible thing that is hidden in every city." So far Copia has collected more than eight hundred thousand pounds of food, connecting it to seven hundred thousand people. Ahmad is hoping ... to potentially use the technology to distribute other much-needed items like medicine. "Next, we want to use the platform to redistribute food to Syrian migrants in our country," Ahmad said. If you want to help, you can get businesses you work with to use the app. But Purvis suggested something more: go volunteer at a local food pantry.
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