Family Focus: Charlotte woman launching app to fight hunger

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte woman is launching a mobile app to fight hunger. She hopes every time people go out to eat, they'll decide to give a little to those in need.

"When you first hit the icon, this is the homepage that'll come up," said Katie Levans.

Levans was excited to show off what's she been working on for a year now. Her mobile app Plateshare launches Friday in Charlotte. She said it's about change.

"Our tagline is spare change makes big change, or change starts now," she said.

When you go out to eat, the Plateshare app will help you round up your bill to the nearest dollar and give the change to nonprofits fighting hunger.

Levans came up with the idea while volunteering at second harvest food bank.

"Instead of getting this hodgepodge of these randomly assorted things donated from lots of very well-meaning people, I started to think of what if we donated the monetary equivalent of that one can of food?" she said.

Levans wanted Second Harvest to be the first nonprofit to benefit from Plateshare -- because she saw firsthand how hard they worked to help local families.

"Right now, for every dollar that we get, we're distributing seven pounds of food," said development director Shay Merritt.

Merritt said the food bank is thrilled with the effort to bring in more funds.

"When we have money we can buy nutritious, low fat, low salt, low sugar foods, which are the ones we most try to buy, especially for children and seniors," she said.

Levans' ultimate goal is to have Plateshare installed inside restaurants -- like it already is -- at the Queen City Q.

Owner Bryan Meredith installed a button on his registers, so people can simply add a donation to the bill.

"We need to get everybody on board and help in their own little way, and this is a very easy way to of it," he said.

"Once we have this army of people who believe in the cause, and believe that they can make a difference together, that's when it makes an impact," Levans said.

The app will be available to download on iPhone and Android phones starting Friday, which is also the start of restaurant week in Charlotte.