A Neuqua Valley High School student has delivered roughly 15,000 surplus restaurant meals to shelters across DuPage, Kane and Will counties through an app she built herself.

Navya Shah, founder of the nonprofit Empower Futurewave, created Bridge2Meal to connect Naperville restaurants that have leftover prepared food with nearby shelters that need it. About 20 student volunteers handle the pickups and deliveries in real time. NBC Chicago first reported on Shah's work in a Sunday, Sept. 27, segment.

"Last year we had about 6,000 meals delivered," Shah told NBC Chicago. "I think this year we are currently somewhere around 9,000, so total I'd say like 15,000 meals so far."

The app works in four steps. A restaurant or event kitchen flags surplus food. Bridge2Meal alerts nearby volunteers. A volunteer picks up the meals, verifying food safety. The food reaches a matched shelter or food pantry the same day, with delivery logged in the app.

Shah founded Empower Futurewave in 2021 with her younger sister. She traces the idea to a book she wrote in fourth grade called "Karma Spirits and Dark Moth," in which she imagined technology linking surplus kitchen meals to shelters.

Bridge2Meal won the 2025 Congressional App Challenge for Illinois's 14th Congressional District, selected by Rep. Lauren Underwood. The competition drew more than 4,600 apps from over 13,800 students nationwide, the highest participation in the program's history.

The need is pressing in Naperville's backyard. Loaves & Fishes Community Services, headquartered in Naperville, reported in April 2026 that food insecurity has risen more than 50 percent in DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will counties since 2019. The organization serves about 10,000 people each week.

Empower Futurewave has raised more than $13,000 through grants, corporate partners and individual donors. Supporters include the DuPage Foundation, Naperville Sunrise Rotary, Albertsons Companies Foundation, Jewel-Osco, KidsMatter Teen Philanthropy Initiative and Costco Wholesale, according to the foundation's website.

Shah said she wants to expand Bridge2Meal into Chicago and surrounding counties. She has not set a public timeline for the expansion.

The Bridge2Meal app is free on the Apple App Store, collects no user data and requires iOS 17.6 or later.