While many still sleep hungry in our country, it is a definite sin to waste food. While there is food wastage in some places, there are millions who sleep hungry. It is this anomaly that the Robin Hood Army wants to correct.
A volunteer of the RHA, Pooja Dagli, spoke to HotFridayTalks about what they do and why they do it.
Robin Hood Army began as a small attempt by Neel Ghosh and Anand Sinha. Neel was leaving an organisation, and when his friends planned a farewell party, he suggested a better idea. He decided it would be cooler to spend that money on feeding the hungry. So, he and his colleagues bought food and distributed it to the hungry under a bridge. It was this small act that has led to the huge army today, that plans to feed more than a million hungry people tomorrow.
RHA now operates in 11 countries and 77 cities. Pooja says, “RHA is a platform where the privileged work for the less privileged. We have only one rule, that we don’t accept monetary donations. Apart from that, we do all kinds of activities. Whether it is medical help, food, clothing, education, whatever it takes to fulfil a need. For instance, under the Robin Hood Academy, we have gotten school admission for 720 children this academic year. We arranged drinking water in a drought area by collaborating with the Indian railways. So, we partner with corporates, celebrities, influencers and social media to arrange resolutions for any crisis that the less privileged face.”
The volunteers call each other Robins and come from all walks of life. People from six to eighty years, contribute their free time to the work. They have no formal set-up and work only through a WhatsApp group. They take the help of culture makers and change makers, that is the celebrities and leaders because they believe only when an issue is escalated to the highest level will it be resolved.
Last year, RHA fed a million people on the Independence Day in India and Pakistan. And this year they are out with a #MissionMillion2018, which will mobilise Indians across the country through more than 16,000 Robins to serve food and smiles to one million countrymen.
The volunteers collect excess food from restaurants and distribute among the hungry. Is that not a great way to celebrate Independence Day?
