Mazah wins Rep. Mark Harris’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in North Carolina’s Eighth District

When asked what inspired the creation of Mazah, the students said, “Mazah emerged from witnessing food waste’s contradictory realities at The Bulb, a Charlotte nonprofit redistributing rescued produce to families facing food insecurity. Every Monday, I distributed fruits and vegetables to community members who depended on these donations. Through these conversations, I observed a preventable paradox: grocery stores discarded perfectly edible produce deemed ‘unsellable’ due to cosmetic imperfections, while families blocks away struggled to afford basic nutrition. This systemic inefficiency lingered with me beyond market shifts. How could we allow such abundance and scarcity to coexist?

“Simultaneously, our passion for baking revealed waste’s personal dimension. We repeatedly discovered expired ingredients, purchased duplicate items, and watched potential recipes spoil. We realized waste doesn’t originate solely in commercial supply chains—it proliferates in our kitchens through disconnected purchasing, storage, and consumption habits.

“These parallel experiences revealed an opportunity. What if technology could bridge both gaps—helping households manage resources mindfully while connecting surplus to those experiencing need?

“Our team envisioned empowering ordinary families to make consistent, incremental changes that compound over time. We named our app Mazah—meaning ‘Earth’ across multiple languages—to reflect this global perspective on a local problem. We designed beyond simple expiration tracking toward comprehensive environmental action: inspiring mindful consumption, preventing household waste, and facilitating community sharing.

“The Bulb showed me food waste’s human dimension: grateful families receiving vegetable bags, dedicated volunteers making tangible differences. Our culinary experiences revealed the personal frustration of spoiled ingredients alongside the satisfaction of transforming leftovers into something delicious.

“Mazah represents where these worlds converge: community impact meeting technological innovation. It’s our answer to reimagining food management, reducing waste, and creating meaningful change—not through sweeping policy alone, but through empowering individual households to act collectively.”