Community Fridges in India
Fridges have made it to India. In this interview, we talk with Sanchit Jain about how keeping up with a ‘Happy Fridge’ became a part of his school’s daily activities.
“The idea was to create a storage unit for all extra food that was brought into the school. Later on, that food would be provided to those who need it within a 500 m radius of the school.”
Just like that, an idea was born. India, with a Global Hunger Index of 27.2 has a level of hunger that seriously needs to be addressed. DLF Public School, a school with a soul, brought to life Happy Fridge as a solution. Happy Fridges can be found in some parts of India, but today we’re looking at DLF Public School. The simple theory is getting the parts, building a fridge. There was a twist here, automation. The digital world has been taking over for a while now in a very positive manner, a lot of times, and this is one of those.
Sanchit takes us on a journey of how it came to be. From registering incoming food to detecting food rotting, the whole system was based on IoT (Internet of Things). DLF’s STEM Robotics Club was behind this innovation. Working with 4 other students, Sanchit explains how calibrating the MQ sensor which would detect the rotting of food was hard to figure out, especially with time and budget constraints. It wasn’t impossible, though, as we can see here today. Happy Fridge came to life with registering incoming food and detecting if it was fresh or rotting without any manual help. Filled by the students of the school, the fridge began serving from the very minute it was unveiled.
The community surrounding DLF Public School
Fridges are a boon to our world, and seeing this story inspires us to create a Happy Fridge of our own. Sanchit recommends buying already manufactured modules for detecting rotting, etc. in order to automate the fridge so that it’s a lot more hassle-free and solves technical issues easily.
Of course, any step forward is a step very appreciated. Sanchit says that giving back to the community made him feel exquisite about this project. With Mott Haven Fridge Network, we’ve been uniting neighbors to accomplish the same thing. Change always counts, small or big, and we encourage you to be inspired by this success story. Fridges have made it to India. Eureka.