A newly-registered charity, based in the Dengie, has been shortlisted in an international contest on app innovation.

BanktheFood has been placed in the top 20 for Europe category in Huawei's App Innovation Competition 2021, which aims to inspire talented app developers across the world and showcase their works.

The app links community food banks with supermarkets and shoppers to ensure that food banks always have exactly what they need, when they need it.

As social media posts and notices in supermarkets quickly go out of date or go unnoticed, food banks are often inundated with one item while having too little of another.

Through the app, shoppers can follow their local food bank and receive reminders of what items it needs when they are shopping in the supermarket.

By providing regular updates to shoppers, BanktheFood services food banks' real-time needs while relieving volunteers of this task, so that they can spend more of their time collecting and distributing food.

It is the only app in the UK that sends timely reminders to shoppers of their local food banks' needs, and is completely free to use.

You can download BanktheFood through your app store, and follow its Facebook page via the link here.

You can vote for the Dengie-based charity in Huawei's competition using the link here.

Voting closes on Friday, 8 October.