l wanted to build something

l wanted to build something that would actually make a difference, so I chose a local food shelf.

The Winooski Food Shelf serves 800+ neighbors every month in Vermont's most diverse city. They run entirely on volunteer labor and community donations.

No paid staff. No marketing budget. No tech team.

Their website was from 2019. Placeholder email in the footer. No way to volunteer online. No way to request food assistance without calling a number during a two-hour window on the weekend.

For a nonprofit, the website isn't branding. It's the front door.

If someone needs help at 10pm on a Tuesday, the site is the only thing available to them. If a donor lands on a site that looks abandoned, they leave. If a potential volunteer can't figure out how to sign up, they don't.

Underfunded organizations lose real money and real volunteers every day to friction that a better website would eliminate.

So I built one.

In 48 hours, using @Base44, I shipped a fully live site for the

Winooski Food Shelf with:

→ Online food assistance intake form (no more phone-only intake)

→ Volunteer sign-up with automated record creation

→ Pantry Helper — an AI assistant that answers questions 24/7

("What are your hours?" "Do I need ID?" "Can I bring my kids?")

→ Newsletter capture for ongoing donor communication

→ Mobile-responsive design built for the community they actually serve

The AI assistant alone changes what's possible for a two-person volunteer org. Someone who speaks Somali or Nepali can ask a question at midnight and get an answer.

Current Site

New Site

#GiveItAGlow @Base44