Robin Hood Army

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Robin Hood Army
AbbreviationRHA
Established26 August 2014
Founders Neel Ghose
Anand Sinha
Aarushi Batra
Focus Hunger Alleviation
Headquarters New Delhi, India
Location
Website http://robinhoodarmy.com

The Robin Hood Army is a non profit volunteer-based organization that works to get surplus food from restaurants to the disadvantaged in cities across India and 10 other countries. [1] They have served food to over 118.46 million people [1] including individuals who are homeless and in orphanages, old-age homes, night shelters, homes for abandoned children, and public hospitals. [2] The organization has over 218,912 volunteers in 401 cities. [1]

Contents

About

The RHA Volunteers heading out for a distribution. The RHA Volunteers.jpg
The RHA Volunteers heading out for a distribution.

The Robin Hood Army was founded by Neel Ghose, Aarushi Batra and Anand Sinha. [3] The food distributed to the needy is sourced from restaurants, which regularly provide surplus or freshly cooked food on a goodwill basis. The Robin Hood Army is still working in its war against hunger and plans to grow its presence worldwide in the next few years.

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, Rajkot,Ahmedabad, Surat. [4] On 15 February 2015, the Robin Hood Army commenced its activities in Karachi, Pakistan. [5]

The organization 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 organization has tied up with multiple restaurants across the 60 cities that provide them with food. The organization 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, [6] applies the following principles to further its cause:

  1. Spread awareness of its activities through social media to promote the idea of self-sustained communities.
  2. Tie-ups and associations with restaurants to provide food in large Numbers to the homeless/less fortunate communities.
  3. 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

Blanket Distribution during the RHA Winter Campaign RHAWinterCampaign.jpg
Blanket Distribution during the RHA Winter Campaign

The Robin Hood actively leverages Facebook and Twitter to generate awareness and inspire new volunteers to join. The organization routinely launches social media campaigns on special occasions or festivals.

International expansion

Robin Hood Army (RHA) initiated its Karachi, Pakistan operations on 15 February 2015, which coincided with the India-Pakistan cricket match of the ICC Cricket World Cup, 2015. [18]

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.[ citation needed ]

Robin Hood Academy

In July 2016, the Robin Hood Academy was started with the purpose to bridge the gap between streets and school. As of December 2021, the Robin Hood Academy has empowered 7300+ street children with basic primary education. The Robins conduct weekly classes and excursions with a standardized curriculum.

Along with teaching the students, the Robins also support students with the procedure for enrollment into government schools and as of December 2023 they've managed to get 2084 school admissions for street children across 200 cities.

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References

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