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This is the first in a series spotlighting finalists for the Pillar awards.

Yes, foodbrucegrey.com is an online tool that has helped feed local residents more than 250,000 meals during the pandemic and save more than 16,000 kilograms of food that would have gone to waste.

But it’s also a way to use data to direct help where it’s most needed.

“It’s totally the answer to what we needed. It’s hard to articulate the impact of what this has had,” Francesca Dobbyn, executive director of the United Way of Bruce Grey, said of the site, which draws information, in real time, from 22 food banks so incoming resources can be shifted to where the need is greatest.

“It just really gets the right firetruck to the right house,” said Dobbyn.  “We have the data behind us. It also gets us talking about the story.”

For its innovative approach to fighting food insecurity, Dobbyn and her team have been named a finalist in the community innovation category of the Pillar Community Innovation Awards.

The awards are an annual London tradition that salute people and agencies who make the city a better place. The ceremony will be held online for the second time during the pandemic.

Twelve finalists in four categories (innovation, leadership, impact and collaboration), are nominated for the awards, presented by Pillar Nonprofit Network, an umbrella group supporting more than 600 non-profit organizations.

Dobbyn got connected to NPX, the tech startup that developed the site, through the Ontario Nuclear Innovation Institute in Port Elgin, which is allied with Bruce Power.

The problem she wanted to solve was how to get up-to-date information about how local food banks were serving their clients in the era of COVID-19. “During the pandemic you needed to know, in real-time, what was happening,” she said, but often the latest information was months old and hopelessly out of date.

Working directly with NPX, Dobbyn knew how the tool needed to function. “We had a couple brainstorming sessions,” she added. “It was fascinating. It was really liberating.”

The virtual information centre helps Dobbyn by building a profile of who’s using which food program. Soon after the site was launched, the decision was made to open it up to any and all users. “We just made it all public because it made it more fluid,” Dobbyn said.

And how does Dobbyn feel to be a finalist in the category set aside for innovators?

“I think it feels pretty amazing. It’s hard sometimes for charities to innovate because we can’t fail, we rely so much on our donors,” she said. “I want to celebrate NPX, who created the dashboard. To be able to successfully innovate something is just tremendous.”

COMMUNITY INNOVATION: The other finalists

London Muslim Mosque community support program: This initiative has helped more than 200 families with outstanding bills, one-time expenses, and food vouchers. It was cited for demonstrating “the importance of supporting those who may have barriers to accessible information and support due to cultural and language constraints.”

YMCA of Southwestern Ontario: The multi-service charity was cited for pivoting during the pandemic to bring its fitness classes and community school programs online. The YMCA developed “new programs and outreach approaches to meet the needs of newcomers to Canada and vulnerable Londoners,” its citation notes.

danbrown@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/DanatLFPress

Pillar Community Innovation Awards

When: Nov. 18, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Where: Online

Virtual tickets: $59.00 each, five for $265, 10 for $527

More information: https://pcia.pillarnonprofit.ca/