After almost 2-weeks of hacking at the ReactPlay Hackathon 2.0, I've launched the StraySahaya App. This is my first time participating in a hackathon and building a React Native App.
Introduction
An app to help you find the nearest NGO or Help Center to find help for anything related to stray animals. You can also look at adoption listings posted by Animal Shelters and also donate to an NGO of your choice to support them in their daily activities.
Problem Statement
The idea for StraySahaya came out of a problem that I was facing when I found an injured dog or a sick animal and don't know what to do or don't have the time to help but wish I could report the issue so some NGO or help center can help the animal.
How will the app help you?
A list of help providers nearest to the stray animal would be ideal, so the app displays the NGOs or help centers' details in a sorted manner closest to your location. In case you want to request help that is not urgent, you can fill up a form and send an email to all the relevant NGOs and seek support from them. If you want an emergency helpline you can tap on the siren on the top right of the home page to call a 24/7 animal helpline.
The app currently supports only help centers and helplines from Bengaluru.
Here are few features the app currently has:
Displays the nearest help center/NGO based on your location.
Help - Fill out the help form to send an email to the relevant NGOs and request support.
Adopt - Stray animals currently at Animal Shelters and available for adoption are listed here to help give them a new home.
Donate - Support an NGO of your choice and help them to continue helping stray animals
Bugfender
I was introduced to Bugfender via this hackathon. It is certainly a useful tool but unfortunately, it did not support my tech stack. Looking forward to using Bugfender in my future projects.
Future Scope
The current version is an MVP, but serves the purpose and it's functional. But there is still a lot to be added and refined.
Build an NGO side of the app
Real-time requests that are based on the app rather than emails.
Animal Help Status tracking
Donations within the app
My Hackathon experience so far
The ReactPlay hackathon being my first hackathon is definitely going to be a memorable one. It challenged me to build a project with a completely new technology that I never worked on. Towards the end, I realized that I enjoy building projects and I have to do it more often. It's the best way to learn anything.
The hackathon is definitely beginner friendly and encourages you to build anything, just build.
Walkthrough of the App.
Demo: https://youtu.be/5fcfDbIN2TQ
App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.straysahaya.app
GitHub: https://github.com/ashrrithk/straysahaya_app
Tech Stack
React Native (Expo Managed)
Redux
Expo
Expo Location
Expo Vector Icons
Expo Linking
TailwindCSS
Sanity CMS
GitHub
Conclusion
I would like to thank ReactPlay for hosting this hackathon and Bugfender for sponsoring the hackathon. Enjoyed the hackathon thoroughly. From now I will definitely take part in more hackathons and encourage others to do it as well.
Happy Hacking 🚀