Unsung: You will suffer the consequences if you fail to do so

This is an app that aims to solve the problem of hunger for millions of people.

I first heard about Unsung at a trade show in Miami earlier this year [1], where founder Jason King was a guest speaker on the second day of the show. His presentation was clear and fluent, his slides were concise, and his content was not dragged out. Although he had 20 minutes to speak, he finished the battle in just 10 minutes. This is one of the most effective speeches I have ever heard.

In the United States, 49 million people are currently suffering from hunger; at the same time, due to the requirement of freshness preservation, $500 billion worth of food is discarded from supermarkets, restaurants, and convenience stores every year.

At the beginning of the speech, Jason showed such a set of shocking numbers. The big screen was also filled with a bunch of zeros. After counting, I confirmed that the numbers I heard were correct. The pain caused by hunger is needless to say. Jason only showed a few pictures, one of which was a picture of a hungry little girl crying to her mother while looking at an empty plate. Since there are so many foods that are thrown away at the end of their shelf life because they cannot be eaten, why not send them to those who really need them? This is the original intention of the Unsung app. Obviously, to accomplish such a mission, the cost of delivering meals cannot be underestimated. However, Jason will not expect to collect this fee from the beneficiaries of Unsung - those who are struggling on the poverty line - because for them, even their own transportation costs are a burden. So what is the way out of this problem?

The answer is the sharing economy. Let people take out their idle resources for those in need to use. This is how the sharing economy works. Companies like Uber and Airbnb are successful examples of the sharing economy. However, while people are focusing on the profit model of the sharing economy and focusing on the word "economy", Jason has made efforts in another direction. His focus is on the real "sharing". Unsung's solution is simple: there are meal requests from hungry people and information about food donated by merchants (merchants also enjoy certain tax exemptions), and every ordinary person can become a volunteer food deliveryman for Unsung as long as they are willing. When you open this app on your way home and find a donation merchant and meal request, you can complete a food delivery task at will, which will bring others a night without hunger, and leave you with a good mood to get rid of the fatigue of the day. Unsung undoubtedly allows us to see another possibility of the sharing economy. As they wrote on the homepage of their website: "Sharing economy" has never been so amazing. [2]

Here, the volunteer food deliverymen are called Unsung Hero. Unsung is the past participle of sing plus a negative prefix. Everyone knows hero, so Unsung Hero means "unsung hero". If you really think so, then you are too naive. Forget what your English teacher taught you: you must understand it in context. This is an app to solve hunger problems, how can it be related to singing? At this time, the teacher will tell you that Unsung Hero means "unsung hero" in English, so you suddenly understand and learn with an open mind. Imagine that unsung heroes carry food to families in urgent need of help. They come and go quietly, waving their sleeves without taking away a single leek. Isn't the picture too beautiful?

If you really think so, then you are too naive. The American people have just learned that "if you can't eat, you will have to take it with you", and you expect them to learn to "do good deeds without leaving a name" right away? In fact, the gameplay of Unsung is far from that simple. Volunteers not only have to deliver meals, but also take photos when delivering them; they not only take photos, but also share them in various ways after taking them; they not only share them, but also compete with other volunteers to see who delivers more; they not only compete, but also openly ask for money from the onlookers. So even if you don't want to be a deliveryman, you can download their app and do your part to reduce hunger by tipping volunteers. In this way, everyone can contribute money and effort in Unsung.

But seeing how high-profile they are in delivering meals, it’s hard not to wonder, what about the “unsung heroes”? I forgot what your English teacher taught you: you must understand in context. Look at these volunteers, they take photos, post to Moments, and ask for rewards. The only thing missing is singing a song at the door of someone’s house when delivering meals. How can they be “unsung heroes”? So Unsung Hero means “unsung hero”. At this time, you are confused and naively raise your hand: “Hey? Teacher, didn’t you just say it means unsung heroes?” So the teacher glanced back at you, his cold eyes gave you a bone-chilling chill through his floodlit glasses, he turned his head away calmly, and his hand and pen fell on the blackboard, and four big words appeared: Unsung Hero, and then he walked out of the classroom in a chic manner, leaving behind that wise saying at the end: “You haven’t learned Chinese well, so I can’t do anything about it.”

After going through all the hardships and finally pretending to understand the meaning of Unsung Hero, if there is still a little curiosity left, then you may be interested in the following question: How does Unsung establish its own credibility? Since it is engaged in the public welfare cause of reducing hunger, it is natural for Unsung to face the trust problem that plagues all public welfare organizations. In particular, they also involve tips. How to prove to donors that their tips have not been misappropriated, but have been delivered to the designated deliverymen without any difference has become a key issue. In fact, most public welfare organizations will go through a lot of trouble here when raising funds. Due to the constraints of many factors, public welfare organizations generally have the problems of small scale, low salary, and difficulty in expansion. In the case of limited resources, a lot of manpower and costs must be invested in many links such as preserving invoices, publicizing accounts, and responding to doubts, which is undoubtedly a double whammy for the development of public welfare.

Unsung’s handling of this issue is still as simple and efficient as always: through Bitcoin rewards. This choice has three advantages: first, compared with the banking system, Bitcoin transfers are fast and low-cost, especially suitable for small transactions such as rewards; second, every Bitcoin transfer is publicly traceable, and donors can check it online by themselves, so Unsung does not have to spend energy on public accounts; finally, since the reward is transferred directly from the donor to the Bitcoin wallet of the deliveryman, the reward money does not pass through Unsung, which technically guarantees that the funds will not be misappropriated, so Unsung does not have to "prove its innocence." In his speech, Jason explained their choice like this:

Even if it is an electronic transfer, I want you to see the bounty enter the other party's wallet the moment you press the confirmation button, and you can also hear the "ding" sound of coins colliding.

But how is this possible? Bitcoin can do it! Don’t believe it?

Go here to give me a tip:

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/20519827

Then copy my Bitcoin address into the search box here:

https://blockchain.info/zh-cn/

Check to see if everything is ready for your reward, except confirmation?

If so, sing a song, otherwise you will become a silent hero.

[1] http://btcmiami.com

[2] http://www.unsung.org