As an owner of not one, not two, not three, but four small businesses (blogs, speaking engagements, the clinic, Vitamins for Vegetarians…whew), I absolutely love it when people take an idea and run with it.  That’s why I want to tell you about my friend, Katie Levans of Sweet Tater Blog, and her genius idea – Plate Share.

Katie says it best when she wrote:

I have this idea that keeps me up at night and leads me to the library on a never-ending quest to learn more but somehow understand less. I have this idea that breaks my heart and gives me hope and sparks my soul on fire all at the same time. I have this idea that if we all give a little, it adds up to a lot. I have this idea that there is enough food on this planet to feed everyone, that our collective good is greater than the sum of our parts, that small actions make big change, and that we, humankind, will not go on believing that hunger is a problem without a solution.  I have this idea, and I need your help.

Don’t you just love the idea of a really great idea that keeps you up at night? I sure do.  And Plate Share really is a great idea.  It’s a “social food photo-sharing smart phone application” that rounds up your grocery or restaurant bills to the nearest dollar, donating the rest of the money to feed the hungry through Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest).  Then, users would post photos of their meals on social networks to encourage others to join in the efforts. 

As Katie says, “It’s simple… Give change. Make change.”  Katie has calculated that, if she can implement her idea, she’d donate an average of $12 a month to feed the hungry in America without even ‘trying.’  She wrote, “I tracked my food spending for the months of November and December to see how much money I would’ve donated to Plate Share had it existed. On average, my change added up to $12 a month. Doesn’t seem like much, I realize; it’s negligible in the grand scheme of my budget. But what if you did it, too? And what if all 1,600 of my Facebook friends did, too? And all of yours? And all 3,000 Twitter followers? And all of yours? And so on and so on and so on… I’m not a wealthy person, but if I can afford to eat out, I can afford to give change to make change.”

Hunger in America exists for over 50 million people. That is 1 in 6 of the U.S. population – including more than 1 in 5 children. (Source)

Katie’s idea is still in the development stages, but she’s presenting the concept at Startup Weekend Charlotte.  She hopes to find a team of developers, designers, and donors passionate excited enough to launch the project right away.  Whether she’s a success at Startup Weekend depends on us!

If you think her idea is great, here’s how you can help draw attention to her efforts and thus increase the odds that she’ll get the concept off the ground:

Twitter

• Follow @plateshare on Twitter
• When you dine out, take a picture of your plate and tweet: “Hey @startupwkndCLT, this plate could help #endhunger. Support @sweettaterblog & the @plateshare project so I can donate $0.xx!” [Fill in the x’s with the amount of change it would take to round your bill to the nearest dollar.]
• When you buy groceries, take a picture of your receipt and tweet: “Hey @startupwkndCLT, my groceries could help #endhunger. Support @sweettaterblog & the @plateshare project so I can donate $0.xx!” [Fill in the x’s with the amount of change it would take to round your bill to the nearest dollar.]
• Tweet: “I believe in the @plateshare project. Support @sweettaterblog at @startupwkndCLT to help #endhunger”
• Tweet: “Give change, make change. Support @sweettaterblog and the @plateshare project at @startupwkndCLT to help #endhunger”
• Share the “Give Change, Make Change” photo

Instagram

• When you dine out, take a picture of your plate and add the caption: “Hey #startupwkndCLT, this plate could help #endhunger. Support @sweettaterblog & the @plateshare project so I can donate $0.xx! #plateshare” [Fill in the x’s with the amount of change it would take to round your bill to the nearest dollar.]
• Share the “Give Change, Make Change” photo

Facebook

• Like Plate Share on Facebook HERE
• Share a link to this post and/or www.plateshare.org
• Share your #plateshare Instagrams and TwitPics to your timeline
• Post the “Give Change, Make Change” picture to your timeline

Bloggers

• Link to Katie’s post from your blog and encourage others to do the same
• Tweet the living hell out of all of this!
• Post this to your blog’s Facebook page
• Follow @plateshare on Twitter

Go, Katie, Go!