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Community Solidarity App Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 21, 2026
This policy describes what the Community Solidarity mobile app collects, why, who can see it, and the choices you have.
Who we are and what this covers
This policy covers the Community Solidarity mobile app for iPhone and Android.
Community Solidarity, Inc. is a volunteer-run nonprofit food relief organization in New York. Our mailing address is PO Box 208, Huntington, NY 11743. “We” and “us” in this policy mean Community Solidarity. The app is used by volunteers and by community members, the people who come to our food shares for groceries. It connects to our website, communitysolidarity.org, and to the volunteer and community member records we keep for running food shares.
Questions about this policy or your information: email info@communitysolidarity.org.
Information we collect
Most of what the app holds is information you type in or choose to share. The rest is a small amount of technical information the app needs to keep your account secure.
| Information | What it includes | Where it is kept |
|---|---|---|
| Your profile | First and last name, email address, phone number, home street address, town, state, zip code, country, birthday, and whether you are volunteering or seeking assistance | On your phone, and in our volunteer or community member database |
| Email verification | Your email address and a one-time code we email you, which expires after 10 minutes | Our website |
| Volunteer record | Volunteer ID, the food shares and pickups you sign up for, your availability, check-ins and hours, people helped, badges earned, and your first and last participation dates | Our volunteer database |
| Community member record | Community member ID, your preferred food share, the food shares you attend and when you checked in, and anything you helped with there | Our community member database |
| Food box orders | The items you ask for, optional diet choices (gluten free, vegan, diabetic), an optional note, whether the box was collected, and any 1–10 rating or thank-you note you leave | Our website, with a copy in our database |
| Someone else picking up your box | Only if you use it: the first name and last initial of the one person you name, and a one-time pickup pass link for them. The pass page shows your first name and last initial, the food share, its time and your box number. The name and pass are deleted the day after the share; we keep only whether your box was collected by someone else | Our website; whether your box was collected by someone else is added to our database |
| Long-term needs | Only if you use it: how many adults and children live with you; for each person their age, whether they wear men's or women's (boys' or girls') clothes, and their clothing and shoe sizes; for children, optional birthday month, what they like, and diaper size; your pets; whether you have a fixed home; and the items you ask for and when we found them. No names | Our website; the number of people, your pets and whether you have a fixed home are added to our database |
| Benefits check | Your answers (how many people live with you, your income, who in your home is young, older, pregnant, disabled, in school, in college, a veteran, on Medicare or recently out of work, whether everyone has health insurance, and which programs you already get) are sent to us when you tap See what might help. Our website keeps them only until they're copied to your community member record, then deletes them. We use them to show you programs you may qualify for, and to plan services for the households we serve. To find your closest WIC office and your county's heating-help (HEAP) office, the app sends your ZIP code and state, which are used for that answer only and not kept. If you tap a Remind me button (for heating help or tax season), we keep that request and your app language until the reminder is sent | Our website |
| App language and Read aloud | The language you use the app in, and whether you have Read aloud turned on. Saved with your community member record so we can offer help in the languages people use, and plan for people who are blind or have low vision | The app |
| Code Blue alerts | Whether you want a notification on freezing (Code Blue) nights, whether you told the app you have no fixed address, and your app language for that notification. Alerts are on automatically if you told us you don't have a home right now, and you can turn them off in Me. To know whether it's a Code Blue night we send only each food share's location to the National Weather Service, never yours | Our website |
| Drive-through line | The time you checked in, and your approximate location while you are on the line (see Location) | Our website; the check-in time is added to our database |
| Volunteer check-in | That you checked in at a food share and when. Your location is checked once and not kept (see Location) | Our website, and your volunteer record |
| Licence plates | For community members who help by taking away trash, recycling or compost: the vehicle's plate number, linked to their community member ID, and what they took (see Camera and licence plates) | Our website and our database |
| Notifications | A token that lets us send notifications to your phone, and the food share or area the notifications are for | Our website; Expo, Apple and Google deliver them |
| Profile photo | A photo you choose from your photo library | Cloudflare file storage |
| Bulletin board | Photos, videos, captions and links you post, comments, likes, reports, and volunteers you tag in a photo | Our website; photos and videos in Cloudflare file storage |
| Community forum | Topics and replies you post, your votes on replies, and reports. Community members have their own food share forum | Our website |
| Chat | Messages you send, encrypted on your phone before they leave it | See Messaging and encryption |
| Friends | Friend requests, your friends list, people you block, and your name and volunteer ID in the in-app directory | Our website |
| Fundraising | If you connect a Classy account: your Classy member ID and the fundraising pages you create | Classy, and your volunteer record |
| Food donation logs | Donations you record as a volunteer: donor, products and quantities, with your email address | Our volunteer database |
| Questions you send us | The subject and message you write, sent with your name, email address and phone number | Our website's contact form, which emails our team |
| Email updates | Whether you agreed to receive email updates | Mailchimp |
| App usage | How many minutes the app is open on your screen, and counts such as posts, likes and friends | Our website, and totals in your volunteer record |
Collected automatically. The app creates a random identifier for your phone, stores it on the phone, and sends it with requests so your sign-in cannot be reused on another device. If you allow notifications, your phone gives the app a notification token, which we store so we can reach you. The app also sends your phone's model and system version (for example, “iPhone 16 Pro · iOS 26”), which we save on your record so we can test the app on the phones our community uses and help when something goes wrong. We use it only for that. Like any website, our server records technical details of requests, such as IP address and time, for security and to prevent abuse.
Your check-in codes. A volunteer's check-in QR code contains their name, email address, phone number, town, state, zip code and volunteer ID. Anyone who scans it can read these details, so show it only to Community Solidarity coordinators. A community member's QR code contains only their community member ID number.
What the app does not collect: sound from your microphone, advertising identifiers, or data for advertising. It does not follow your location in the background, except while you have chosen to be on a drive-through line. The app contains no advertising and no third-party analytics tools.
Location
The app uses your location in two situations, and only after you tap the button that starts each one.
- Volunteer Self Check-In. When a volunteer taps Self Check-In, the app reads the phone's location once and sends it to our server, which checks that it is within about 100 meters of a food share that is running. We keep the fact that you checked in and the time. The location itself is not stored or logged.
- Drive-through line. A community member within about 1.5 miles of a food share can check in to its line. While you are on the line, the app sends your location about every 45 seconds, including when the phone is locked if you allow “Always” location. We round it to about 50 meters (160 feet) before saving it, and keep only the latest position.
- Who sees your place on the line. Volunteers checked in at that food share see it on a map, with your first name and last initial and your box number if you ordered a box. Nobody else sees it.
- When it is erased. Your position is erased when you leave the line, when a volunteer marks you served, when you travel more than about 2 miles from the share, or when the share ends. After that we keep only the time you checked in.
- Wyandanch has no drive-through line. Checking in there records the time and does not track your location.
Searches for food and community resources use a town or zip code you type, not your location.
Camera and licence plates
The app uses the camera only when you open a screen that needs it.
- Scanning codes. Scanning a friend's code, or a volunteer scanning a community member's QR code, reads the code and nothing else.
- Photos and videos. You can choose a photo or video to post or to use as a profile photo. Only the items you choose leave your phone.
- Licence plates. Some community members help at a food share by taking away trash, recycling or compost. A volunteer records this by scanning the member's QR code and then the vehicle's licence plate. The plate is read on the volunteer's phone: no photo or camera image is saved or sent to us, only the plate number.
- What we keep about a plate. The plate number, the community member ID it belongs to (if any), and what was taken on which day. We use it to recognise the vehicle next time, to record the help on the member's attendance record, and to honor a coordinator's decision that a person or vehicle may no longer take these materials.
The app never asks for your microphone.
How we use your information
We use your information to run food shares and the volunteer community, and for nothing else. We do not sell your information, and we do not use it for advertising.
- Running food shares: volunteer sign-ups, schedules, check-in at a site, and keeping records of hours, pickups and people helped.
- Food box orders: letting community members ask for a box, showing volunteers what to pack, telling you when your box is ready, and keeping track of boxes that were ordered and not collected.
- The drive-through line: showing volunteers who is waiting and roughly where, so food and boxes are ready when you reach the front.
- Attendance: recording which community members came to a food share and which volunteers worked it.
- Community helpers: recording who took away trash, recycling or compost, and honoring a coordinator's decision to stop someone from doing so.
- Planning services: using benefits check answers, the language you use the app in, whether you use Read aloud, and whether your household has a home, to understand the households we serve and plan better help. This stays within Community Solidarity.
- Confirming it is you: verifying your email address, linking the app to your volunteer or community member record, and tying your sign-in to your phone.
- Community features: showing your posts, comments, forum replies, friends and messages to the people they are meant for.
- Recognition: calculating your badges, milestones and app activity totals, passing on thank-you notes from community members, and posting a birthday card when you volunteer on your birthday (you can turn this off).
- Fundraising: creating and updating the Classy fundraising pages you choose to make, and showing their progress.
- Food donations: recording donations that volunteers log, so we can track what we receive and distribute.
- Contacting you: sending verification codes; sending notifications you have allowed, such as a box being ready, an alert for your food share or area, or a schedule change; answering questions you send us; and email updates only if you opt in.
- Safety: reviewing reports, honoring blocks, limiting repeated requests, and preventing misuse.
- Improving the app: looking at overall usage, such as time spent in the app, to decide what to build next.
Who can see your information
Your contact details stay private: other people using the app never see your email, phone number or address. Your birth year is never shown.
| Who | What they can see |
|---|---|
| Other volunteers in the app | Your name, profile photo, badges, milestones and activity totals, and anything you post on the bulletin board or forum |
| Your friends | That you are friends, the day and month of your birthday when it is coming up, and your recent activity, such as food shares you volunteered at, posts and fundraisers |
| People you message | Your messages, which only they can read |
| Volunteers checked in at a food share | For community members at that share: first name and last initial, box order and box number, the name of anyone picking it up for them, place on the drive-through line, and, for community helpers, the licence plates linked to them and whether a coordinator has blocked them, with the reason |
| The volunteer packing your box | Your long-term needs items with each person's age and sizes (never names), how many adults and children live with you, and whether you have a fixed home |
| The volunteer who packed your box | Your first name, with any thank-you you send them |
| Community members | The first name of the volunteer who packed their box, when they send a thank-you |
| Anyone on our website | Bulletin board photos and videos on the public Happening Now page, and forum topics and replies. Both show your first name and last initial, for example “Jane D.” A birthday card has its own unlisted web page that anyone with the link can open |
| People who follow us on social media | Bulletin board photos we repost on Community Solidarity's own accounts, with your first name and last initial |
| Community Solidarity coordinators | Your volunteer or community member record, reports about posts, and what is needed to run food shares |
Services we share information with
We share information only with services that help us run the app, and only what each one needs:
- Cloudflare stores the photos and videos you upload, and a copy of the preview picture for links you post.
- Expo, with Apple (iPhone) or Google (Android), delivers notifications. They receive your notification token and the text of the notification.
- Classy (GoFundMe Pro) hosts the fundraising pages you create, if you connect an account.
- Mailchimp sends email updates, if you opt in.
- Google Workspace delivers our verification emails and the questions you send us.
- Our hosting providers run the servers for communitysolidarity.org and for our volunteer and community member database.
- Apple Maps (iPhone) or Google Maps (Android) show food shares, food resources and the drive-through line on maps in the app.
- YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook receive a request for a preview when you post a link to their content. Sharing to Instagram Stories happens through the Instagram app, under Instagram's own privacy policy.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect someone's safety, or to enforce our Terms of Use and protect Community Solidarity, its volunteers and its community members.
Phone permissions
The app asks for a permission only when you use the feature that needs it. You can change any of them later in your phone's Settings.
| Permission | When the app asks | What happens to the data |
|---|---|---|
| Photo library | When you choose a profile photo, or pick a photo or video to post | Only the items you choose leave your phone |
| Camera | When you scan a friend's code, a community member's QR code or a licence plate | Codes and plates are read on the phone. No photo is saved or uploaded |
| Location while using the app | When a volunteer taps Self Check-In, or a community member checks in to a drive-through line | Self Check-In uses it once and does not keep it. The line keeps only your latest approximate position, and erases it when you are done |
| Location always | When you join a drive-through line and choose to keep sharing with the phone locked | Used only while you are on a line. Sharing stops by itself when you leave, are served, or the share ends |
| Notifications | When you turn on alerts, order a box, or set fundraiser reminders | We store a notification token until you sign out or delete your account. Fundraiser reminders are scheduled on your phone |
| Contacts | When you pick people to tell about your fundraiser | Contacts stay on your phone and are never uploaded. Messages go out through your own email or text app |
| Calendar | When you add a food share to your calendar | The app adds the event you asked for. It cannot read your calendar |
Stored on your phone. The app keeps your profile, your sign-in, and your chat encryption key in your phone's secure storage. Your chat key never leaves your phone.
Messaging and encryption
Chat messages are end-to-end encrypted: we cannot read them, and neither can anyone else except the person you send them to.
- Each message is encrypted on your phone before it is sent, using a key that never leaves your phone.
- Our server holds the encrypted message only until the recipient's app confirms it arrived, then deletes it.
- Readable copies exist only on your phone and the recipient's.
- Our server does see who messaged whom, when, and whether a message was delivered. It needs this to deliver messages.
- Chat is available only between volunteers who have verified their email address.
Because your key lives only on your phone, messages may not be recoverable if you delete the app or change phones.
How long we keep information
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Email verification codes | 10 minutes |
| Chat messages on our server | Until delivered, then deleted |
| Your place on a drive-through line | Until you leave the line, are served, or the share ends that day |
| Drive-through line check-in times | About 13 months on our website. The attendance record in our database is kept with our other records |
| Volunteer check-ins made in the app | 30 days on our website. A check-in added to your volunteer record is kept with that record |
| Food box orders, ratings and thank-you notes | About 13 months on our website, with a copy in our database |
| A record that a box was ordered and not collected | One year |
| Licence plates and community helper records | For as long as we need them to run food shares, or until you ask us to remove them |
| Notification tokens | Until you sign out, turn notifications off, or delete your account |
| Old and unused profile photos | Deleted automatically by a scheduled cleanup |
| Posts, comments and forum replies | Until you or a moderator delete them |
| Volunteer and community member records, and app usage totals | While you take part, and afterwards for as long as we need them for our records or the law requires |
| Information on your phone | Until you delete your account or the app |
Your choices
- Edit your profile at any time in the app.
- Delete your account in the app. This removes your friends list and directory entry, settings, blocks you placed, chat keys and undelivered messages, your household and long-term needs list, benefit reminders, likes, photo tags of you, forum votes, app usage data, notification tokens and your profile photo.
- What deleting does not remove: your posts and comments, which you can delete one by one first; reports; and your volunteer or community member record in our database. To have that record removed, email us.
- Leave a drive-through line at any time. Your location stops being shared and your position is erased.
- Turn off notifications or location in your phone's Settings. Self Check-In and the line need location; everything else works without it.
- Turn off birthday cards in the app if you do not want one posted.
- Stop email updates with the unsubscribe link in any update email.
- Remove your profile photo, or delete your own posts on the bulletin board and forum. Deleting a bulletin board post also removes its comments and likes.
- Remove or block people, and report posts or people you think break our community rules.
- Ask for a copy of your information, a correction, or deletion by emailing info@communitysolidarity.org. This includes any licence plate linked to you. We aim to respond within 30 days.
Children
The app is not meant for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. People under 18 should use the app only with a parent's or guardian's permission and supervision. If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, email info@communitysolidarity.org and we will delete it.
Security
- Every connection between the app, our website and our database is encrypted, and the app verifies it is talking to our real servers.
- Chat is end-to-end encrypted, and your sign-in and chat key are kept in your phone's secure storage.
- Your sign-in is tied to your phone, so a copied sign-in does not work elsewhere.
- Full volunteer and community member records are open only to Community Solidarity coordinators. Volunteers at a food share see only what this policy describes.
No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of your information. We work to protect it, and we will notify you of a breach as the law requires.
Changes to this policy
When we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. For significant changes, we will also tell you in the app before they take effect.
See also our Terms of Use.