Robin Hood Army
The Robin Hood Army is a volunteer-based Zero funds organisation that works to get surplus food from restaurants to the less fortunate sections of society in cities across India and 12 other countries. The organisation consists of over 58401 volunteers in 182 cities, and have served food to over 32.4 million people so far. The volunteers people from all walks of life. The less fortunate sections who the organisation reaches out to include homeless families, orphanages, night shelters, homes for abandoned children, patients from public hospitals, etc.
About
The Robin Hood Army was founded by Neel Ghose and Anand Sinha. The food distributed to the needy is sourced from restaurants, which regularly provide surplus or freshly cooked food on a basis. The Robin Hood Army believes it is just 1% done in its war against hunger and plans to grow its presence worldwide in the next few years.The website of Robin Hood Army is developed and designed by The Optiverts presided by Manav Mishra.
The Robin Hood Army originated in New Delhi, India, and then eventually spread its operations to other Indian cities such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Jabalpur, Panipat, Gurgaon, Pune Dehradun, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Surat. On February 15, 2015, the Robin Hood Army commenced its activities in Karachi, Pakistan.
The organisation functions on and propagates the basic ideology of self-sustained communities across the city i.e. each locality/community within the city will contribute towards providing food to the needy through its local volunteers and restaurants.
Approach and mission
Currently the organisation has tied up with multiple restaurants across the 60 cities that provide them with food. The organisation does not accept monetary donations and only distributes the food or donations in kind that it receives from its restaurant partners and donors.The Robin Hood Army, wearing green T-shirts, applies the following principles to further its cause:
- Spread awareness of its activities through social media to promote the idea of self-sustained communities.
- Tie-ups and associations with restaurants to provide food in large Numbers to the homeless/less fortunate communities.
- Introduce new volunteers on a regular basis to the system, to create an impact amongst the less fortunate and in the process inspire a community to give time and help to those who need it most.
Campaigns
- In October 2014, during the festival Diwali, the Robin Hood Army launched a Facebook campaign which was aimed at inspiring their social media followers to gift anything ranging from food, clothes, toys, sweets, etc. to the needy, and post a picture of the act with the hashtag #BeRobinthisDiwali. These pictures were then reshared on the Robin Hood Army Facebook page.
- Another social media campaign, the Robin Hood Army Winter Campaign, was launched in December 2014 with the hashtag #BeRobinthisChristmas. The campaign aimed at setting up collection boxes in offices across India to collect warm clothes and blankets which were then distributed by volunteers to help the homeless in winter.
- The Robin Hood Army partnered with startups Uber, ScoopWhoop and Zomato to launch a unique initiative on Independence Day, 2015 - #Mission100K. The initiative aimed at uniting students across the Indian sub-continent to rally together and serve food to 100,000 homeless people on Independence Day. #Mission100K was successfully conducted in 23 cities, including 141 colleges and offices and 2400 citizens participating in the initiative. The participants of the initiative visited 42 orphanages and served 78,559 less fortunate people. The #Mission100K campaign was widely covered by various digital, print, radio and television media.
- In August 2016, Marquee startups, Uber, Zomato, Snapdeal, Oyo, Grofers, Inshorts, Roposo,InMobi, and Pressplay and musical artists - Farhan Akhtar, Vishal Dadlani and Uday Benegal partnered with the Robin Hood Army to unite Indians and Pakistanis across the border to serve all of 516,000 lessfortunate people on Independence Day as part of their #mission500K campaign.
- In April 2016, Rural Maharashtra experienced its worst drought in decades, several farmers committed suicide. The Robins sprang to action and worked relentlessly day and night to help their fellow citizens. The Result: 75,000 litres of drinking water personally collected and transported via a special train to Latur.
- In October 2016, the Robin Hood Army launched its #ADiwaliToRememer campaign. It started with a simple idea - to make Diwali special for someone who needed it more than the Roins. There were games, magic shows, football matches, dance lessons, Rangoli competitions, Diya decorating, hygiene drives, Wall of Dreams, Tae Kwon Do lessons – the works! There was Love, Light, Laughter and Life- All what Diwali and the Robin Hood Army is about.
- In August 2017, the Robin Hood Army undertook an unprecedented project along with media companies, the startup ecosystem and celebrities - #Mission1Million. In the largest ever war against hunger, #Mission1Million aimed to mobilise Indians and Pakistanis together to serve food and smiles to ONE MILLION countrymen to mark Independence Day. The agenda also included raising awareness on the national hunger problem and mobilise citizens to hit the streets and help irrespective of nationality, faith and religion. The Robins across both countries successfully managed to serve 1.34 Million meals during this mega event. Apart from serving meals to a million people RHA also launched #MissionHeart on Independence Day which was aimed at touching the lives of people they served. There were old age home visits, get togethers with women who survived acid attacks, opening bank accounts for people, making public toilets using waste materials.
- In August 15, 2018, on occasion of 72nd years of Independence of India, the Robin Hood Army launched #MissionMillion2018. In a day they served 1.99 million people across 70 cities in India.
- Distributed Mattresses received from SleepyCat Mattress in May 2018
International expansion
Between February 2015 and February 2017, the Robin Hood Army has set up chapters in 10 more countries including Bangladesh, Nepal & Sri Lanka in the Indian Sub-Continent, Malaysia, Philippines & Indonesia in South-East Asia, Egypt in Africa, Mexico in North America and Melbourne in Australia.
In February 2018, RHA Canada was started in the Greater Toronto Area.
Robin Hood Academy
In July 2016, the Robin Hood Academy was started with the purpose to bridge the gap between streets and school. By giving access to basic values and primary education Robin Hood Academy empowers students by developing their inclination towards learning. As of December 2019, the Robin Hood Academy has empowered 6000+ street children with basic primary education. The Robins conduct regular classes and excursions with a standardized curriculum to introduce and drive the spirit of learning.Along with teaching the students, the Robins also support students with the procedure for enrollment into government schools and as of December 2019 they've managed to get 1700 school admissions for street children across 75 cities.
Robin Hood Army at TEDx
The founding team of the Robin Hood Army has given multiple TEDx talks on how a community can come together to create a wider and real difference.- Building the Robin Hood Army, Neel Ghose, TEDxYouth@CAJCS
- The Lack of Food is Not the Cause of the Hunger Problem, Neel Ghose, TEDxGateway
- How one Morsel can Make a Difference, Aarushi Batra, TEDxKids@NMS
- My Journey and Learnings, Anand Sinha, TEDxIIFTDelhi
- Eat. Feed. Love., Suvarna Mandal, TEDxIMTGhaziabad