Challenged by not being able to find a suitable place to dine for a lactose intolerant employee and vegetarian daughter, Darrell Butler used his love of technology and interest in healthy living to create DoMuncie.

“There was no really good way to find where you could go,” he says. “I started doing some research and was shocked at the number I found of how many people have heart disease and need a controlled diet.”

Butler, professor of psychological science, says he was approached by his department chair to start an immersive learning class, and from there, DoMuncie was created.

Butler mentored an interdisciplinary team of Building Better Communities Fellows, whose purpose is to find real-world solutions to real-world problems for Indiana businesses and organizations. The Fellows spoke with local restaurants and businesses concerned with food and exercise. The free Web site, created by Butler’s business, nHarmony, serves as an outlet for restaurants to post their menus and for exercise groups to post events.

“Maybe we can find a way to find restaurants that say, ‘Yeah, I have a menu that is designed for heart health,’” he says. “It seems like everybody I talked to, someone in the family had an eating issue.”

The group of students played a major role in designing marketing resources, advertising the site, and meeting with local restaurant owners and exercise groups to develop the content of the site.

Stephanie Bane, a double major in public relations and journalism graphics says she focused on the marketing and business aspects of the project.

“We created fliers and handouts to give out at events such as the Taste of Muncie,” she says. “It was important that we got the word out in the Muncie community.”

Some of the students also worked on a business plan to show other communities how to start a DoMuncie program and make a profit.

“I really enjoyed working with students from other majors because it gave me the opportunity to see a situation from a new light,” Bane says. “The differences allowed us to see a bigger picture and decide together what worked and what didn’t.”