[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 71 (Wednesday, April 22, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E355]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CELEBRATING ANSHU MUKHERJEE AS OREGON'S 5TH DISTRICT'S CONGRESSIONAL 
                          APP CHALLENGE WINNER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JANELLE S. BYNUM

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 22, 2026

  Ms. BYNUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate and honor Anshu 
Mukherjee as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in 
Oregon's 5th District, for the creation of Grub.io, an innovative app 
designed to combat food waste at large events. The colleagues in this 
room know exactly what I'm talking about. Platters of fresh, delicious 
food, thrown right into the trash, because we didn't have a plan, so we 
didn't have a choice. Now we have a plan. Grub.io lets event organizers 
and guests share and claim leftover food in real-time, cutting the 
waste and getting more food to more people. It's easy to use. Register 
an event, get a code, and post or claim surplus food. It also tracks 
your environmental impact so you can make every event count--literally, 
pounds of food saved.
  Every great idea comes from something in real life. Anshu was at 
FIRST Robotics World Championship in Houston when he saw hundreds of 
teams in the competition order heaps of food with time running out on 
the clock. Some never got to their plates in the first place, while 
others only had time to eat a few bites. The result: untouched pizzas 
and trays went right to the trash. This wasn't the first time Anshu saw 
this pattern. He saw the same thing at a tailgate at the University of 
Oregon--Go Oregon Ducks--and realized this was a solvable problem. We 
don't have a lot of those, do we, colleagues? At that time, existing 
food-rescue apps weren't built for fast-moving, temporary events.
  In Oregon, where 2 billion pounds of food are wasted annually--
despite 1 in 8 residents facing food insecurity--the potential impact 
of reducing event waste is especially urgent. Anshu is already 
exploring partnerships with organizations like Urban Gleaners and Waste 
Not Food Taxi to strengthen connections between event leftovers and 
local hunger-relief networks.
  This year's Congressional App Challenge was the largest in the 
program's history, with 394 Members of Congress hosting district 
competitions and more than 13,800 students submitting over 4,600 
original apps addressing real-world challenges. Among these, Grub.io 
stood out for its social impact and scalability. Anshu plans to beta-
test the app at upcoming robotics competitions hosted by Team 1425 and 
ultimately aims to deploy it at the Robotics World Championship--
bringing it full circle. Grub.io reflects the creativity, engineering 
skill, and civic-minded innovation the Congressional App Challenge was 
designed to celebrate, and that my great state has in large supply.
  I am incredibly grateful for Anshu and his work. I have a hunch this 
is just the start of an incredible and impactful life's purpose on this 
beautiful earth. I thank him for making Oregon proud.

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