Our mission
The help exists. We make it findable.
AidSense is a free app that connects people to food, housing, healthcare, and emergency support in their area — without cost, accounts, or shame.
Why AidSense exists
Job loss, an eviction notice, a medical bill, an empty fridge at the end of the month — these arrive without warning, and usually all at once. In those moments, the last thing anyone needs is a maze of phone trees, outdated PDFs, and websites that ask you to create an account before they'll tell you an address.
The resources are already there. Food banks, shelters, clinics, and crisis lines exist in nearly every community. The gap is between the person who needs help and the information about where to get it. AidSense closes that gap in about a minute.
What we stand for
Dignity first
No one should feel judged for needing help. There is no eligibility quiz, no account, no record of what you searched for. You ask, you get an address.
Always free
Access to emergency resources is a right, not a product. AidSense has no ads, no subscription, and no data to sell — and that isn’t a launch promotion.
Community-powered
Listings come from public directories, government agencies, and the nonprofits doing the work on the ground, so what you see reflects what’s actually open.
Built for hard moments
Every screen assumes the person using it is stressed, in a hurry, and maybe low on battery. That constraint drives the design more than anything else.
Recognition
AidSense won the 2025 Congressional App Challenge for New Jersey's 9th District, a national competition run by the United States House of Representatives that recognizes student-built apps serving their communities.
The award is nice. What matters more is that the app is now in the App Store, where someone who needs it can actually download it.
How we're funded
AidSense operates as a nonprofit project, with 501(c)(3) status currently pending. It takes no revenue from users: no ads, no subscriptions, no in-app purchases, and no sale of user data. Keeping the app free is the entire point, so the funding model has to keep it that way.
Work with us
If you run a food pantry, shelter, clinic, or resource program and want to be listed — or you spot something out of date — we want to hear from you.