Observation: We visited The Elderly’s Canteen in Yangjing Str. in Pudong district. By Interviewing the manager we discovered that the price of the food is 20% lower than the price of the same type of food in the same area. Without the feedback of the elderly, she said that the operation of the old canteen may not be as good as it is now. Every day around ten o'clock, the canteen will deliver for free to the meal to Haiyuan Community. By Talking with the manager of the community, we found out that about 10 people eat there every day, some of them bring leftovers back home.
Context: The project was developed in Shanghai and for the elderly people living in the city. In order to get familiar with low income seniors in the city, we visited them during launch time at the major community center and canteen in two major disctricts: Pudong and Yangpu.
Interviews: The Yunheyuan Central Kitchen, Yangpu Dist. prepare and delivers food to elderly people with disabilities living in Gongjiao & Anshan Community. We went to visit these elderly people and we discovered that they often feel lonely because they are confined in their home due to disabilities, they only see their children during weekends. About food, they always save part of what they eat as leftovers.
Insights:
By interviewing elderly people we found out that those who choose delivery service have often disabilities. Many are lonely and would like to chat with others. However, most of them are in good health condition, have free time and are willing to help those in need. The meal delivery service cover a big area, resulting in frequent delay. Some elderly people are out of the delivery range. Loneliness is an issue that we needed to address.
Our Challenge:
With food surpluses, we aim to provide lonely senior citizens not only food delivery, but also close connection by creating a relationship between retired people able to help those who feel lonely or physically disabled.
Food Panion:
A service that help pairing elderly people in need for assistance and companionship. Those who need assistance can call the NGO and schedule an appointment for pairing up a new helper based on their personal preferences. After the assistance is recieved, a feedback is released to the company in order to check whether or not the match was satisfying.
