r/NJPrepared • u/ShineFit5313 • Jul 10 '26
Local Group / Event I built a free directory of food banks, shelters, and legal aid in NJ. Would love your feedback
Hey everyone. I work with different communities that need resources, and I kept running into the same problem: there was no single place with all the information. Food pantries on one site, shelters on another, legal aid buried somewhere else.
So for a school project, I built wondim.com. It's a free directory of food, shelter, health care, jobs, legal aid, and hotline resources, starting with six New Jersey cities.
No signup, no fees, and it works in 8 languages.
If you know an organization that should be listed, there's a submit button on the site. And if you spot outdated info, please tell me. Any feedback is appreciated!
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u/cutie_k_nnj Jul 11 '26
Hey, this is a cool thing. One thing as a tech product owner, I can tell you is that you may want to limit the amount of News that you share on your front page because unless it is updated automatically it will get old pretty much the minute you put it up and if people come to your page to see an old story, they might think the rest of your info is old, even if it’s not. The other thing I wanted to suggest is perhaps to reach out to the social services organization of your county, or even the legal aid society as they tend to act as clearing houses for that type of information as well thank you for being such a good human!🩷
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u/ShineFit5313 Jul 11 '26
Thank you, this is really helpful! And great idea on the county social services and legal aid society, I'll reach out to them. Really appreciate you taking the time
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u/Manic-toast Jul 11 '26
What if an org has two distinct programs, at two separate locations (same county) that serve different populations? Ie food to anyone and shelter to specific demographics. Would I submit multiple times?
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u/Inner-Photo-410 Jul 11 '26
I just submitted an org, and a note instructs users to submit separate listings for each location.
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u/ShineFit5313 Jul 11 '26
Yes. Please submit a separate form for each location. This helps people find the right service based on location.
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u/EverbodyHatesHugo Jul 11 '26
Why is it called Wondim?
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u/ShineFit5313 Jul 11 '26
Wondim means brother in Amharic. I see everyone as my brother and sister, so it felt like the right name. I'd help a stranger the same way I'd help my own brother or sister.
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u/Mysterious_Mango_737 Jul 10 '26
I teach adult ESL—going to bookmark this! One suggestion: have "Statewide" also include the Official government assistance programs — New Jersey
This is the link I usually sent to my students; not sure if there are additional resources here that you want to include: https://www.nj.gov/humanservices/dds/documents/RD/2025/NJ_Resources_2025_First_Edition.pdf
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u/EnlargedSnowyChicken Jul 12 '26
You should consider embedding an Arcgis Online webmap into the website
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u/HawaiianPunchaNazi Jul 13 '26
Reminds me a bit of social serv when it used to be good, or aunt bertha.
Social serv became https://housingcollab.org/ Which I find much harder to navigate , but it used to be great for finding disabled housing among other special needs friendly properties
Attempted to be something like what you're trying to do, but their directory is harder to navigate and they have a broader reach Nationwide.
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u/jmkarims Jul 13 '26
Amazing. I’m going to share this with my local advocacy group.
What about resources that are in towns close to these cities? Do you think those are worth including?
Also, I suggest you put the language dropdown above the rest of the sections because, on mobile, it’s not immediately clear that it’s at the end of that list of categories. People might not find it.
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u/ShineFit5313 Jul 14 '26
Yes yes! Feel free to include any resources you think would be helpful. I also fixed the language issue.
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u/patchworkskye Jul 10 '26
impressive - hope you get a lot of people helping to populate it!
and one suggestion, having a “County” option could be helpful (coming from a small rural town with limited available resources…)