Leveraging Tech for Good

When the devastating fires broke out in Los Angeles, lifer Matthew Wirtz ’20 and two friends quickly mobilized to help those who had lost belongings in the disaster, leveraging knowledge gained in their Apps with LLMs class at Stanford. The goal of the class is to build and launch products powered by large language models, and Matthew and his friends sprang into action to develop a product that could help fire victims seamlessly catalogue lost items.

 

“We wanted to do something to help, and we quickly learned how disorganized and overwhelming the insurance claims process can be for fire victims,” Matthew shares. “That insight led us to focus on the first step of the claims journey: cataloging personal belongings. To better understand the problem, we spoke with experts in the disaster tech space and realized there’s a significant gap in post-disaster support. While some tools let people walk around their homes, record a video, and generate a catalog of items, these solutions only work if you prepare beforehand. In the chaos of an evacuation, most people don’t think to document their belongings.”

 

Thus, the concept for ReclaimLA.org was born. “That’s when we decided to take a voice-first approach, inspired by the concept of mind mapping from psychology,” Matthew explains. “We designed our product to help jog people’s memories about their belongings. You can catalog your belongings while driving home from work, winding down for bed, or even in the bathroom. The goal was to make the process as effortless and accessible as possible.”

 

Matthew and the team recognized that they needed to roll out their product to those in need as quickly as possible. He explains, “Our goal was to build a working solution in three to four days, so we decided to piece together existing tools rather than build everything from scratch. This approach lets us focus on solving the problem and iterating based on user feedback rather than getting bogged down in development.”

 

“We started by designing a conversational pathway using BlandAI, a platform that simplifies the creation of guided, user-friendly voice interactions while handling much of the tedious coding. This allowed us to concentrate on crafting a smooth user experience. Once the user completes the phone call, our system uses OpenAI’s API to automatically extract key details from the transcript and generate a personalized catalog of relevant resources. We connected this system to Twilio, enabling us to send users updates and confirmations via text message, keeping the process seamless and accessible. After users complete the phone call, their results are compiled into a CSV file and automatically sent to their email.”

 

“The final piece was building a simple front-end website where people can access the tool, get started quickly, and understand how it works. That meant making it as easy as entering a phone number and receiving a call. With three of us on the team, we divided the work and got straight to it—brainstorming, building, testing, and launching, all within a few intense but rewarding days.”

 

To spread the word, they posted on community WhatsApp groups, Nextdoor, neighborhood boards, and social media. Several local newsletters across the LA area also featured the company.

 

As of March, ReclaimLA.org has received over 2,000 calls—more than 600 of which have resulted in completed home inventories. “We’ve already helped hundreds of households take a major step toward reclaiming what they’ve lost,” Matthew shares.

 

What’s next for ReclaimLA? “We’re currently working on adding receipt and photo integration to make the tool even more useful,” Matthew explains. “This new feature will enable users to upload a folder of receipts and photos from their home, and we will automatically match those to the items in their catalog. It’s another step toward simplifying the claims process and ensuring users have everything they need in one place.”

 

Matthew continues to live out LJCDS’ mission to prepare individuals for a lifetime of social responsibility, putting passion to purpose, and making the world a better place.

 

Photo: Reuters