WINNIPEG COMMUNITY COMPASS • SUMMER 2025
Winnipeg Community Compass
A self-taught, 7-day build that connected 5,000+ Manitobans to emergency resources, reached 1.3M+ views on national news, and sparked my passion for product management.
The Challenge
Responding to a provincial emergency in under 7 days.
Manitoba's 2025 wildfire state of emergency displaced thousands of residents from their homes with minimal notice. Thousands of Winnipeggers, in true Friendly Manitoba™ spirit, piled in donations of pet food, clothes, and supplies to support wildfire evacuees.
The Problem
Critical information fragmentation when stakes were highest.
As one of these willing donors, I quickly spotted a problem: critical wildfire aid information was completely scattered across unorganized Facebook groups, Reddit threads, and community forums.
Scattered Data
Donation points and relief hubs were buried across dozens of Facebook posts with no map visualization.
High Friction
Existing platforms required logins or app downloads, inconvenient for users looking for places to donate in a pinch.
Zero Central Verification
Community-run businesses accepting supplies had no centralized channel to broadcast open hours or urgent needs.
Experiencing this frustration firsthand while trying to locate businesses accepting pet food donations, I realized that there was an opportunity to build a centralized, instant-access solution myself.
The Solution
Zero-barrier interactive mapping.
I built the Winnipeg Community Compass—a lightweight, mobile-optimized interactive map designed for maximum clarity and speed under crisis conditions.
Zero Sign-up Barriers
Eliminated all logins, downloads, and form friction so families in high-stress situations could access open aid instantly.
Client-Side Leaflet.js
Selected open-source Leaflet.js vector mapping to ensure map tiles rendered fast even on weak cellular networks during regional strain.
Real-Time Dynamic Filters
Categorized drop-off points, food banks, and shelters dynamically on the client side with zero page reload latency.
The Outcome
5,000+ Manitobans helped, 1.3M+ views, and provincial recognition.
What began as a 7-day personal build quickly became an essential community hub during the wildfires, helping over 5,000 wildfire evacuees and donors find aid and shelter.
National news coverage and 1.3M+ views
CBC News featured my project on consecutive nights of The National: the first night showcasing the website, and the second showcasing my parents’ – who had no clue I had even made this in the first place – shell-shocked reaction to seeing their son on the news (my Mom thought I deepfaked myself onto the TV!).
Meeting Manitoba's Minister of Innovation
Following the CBC broadcast, Manitoba's Minister of Innovation and New Technology, Mike Moroz, reached out directly to thank me on behalf of the province. I met with his team to discuss my platform and learn more about the province’s crisis information site MBReady, which launched in the weeks following.
Sparking My Product Management Career
Experiencing how rapid execution, technical problem-solving, and empathetic solutions directly helped thousands of real people sparked a feeling I've been chasing in everything I do, ever since: to lead and build products at the intersection of technology, business, and human impact.