Robinhood Army to feed 40,000 Punekars on Independence Day
Pune: The Robinhood Army Pune Chapter which started out in March 2015 and boasts of 300 plus volunteers, is gearing towards serving 40k people on 15 August 2016 across the city including in the PCMC areas. The initiative is part of its #Mission500k wherein this Independence Day, the Robin Hood Army will serve 5 Lakh countrymen across India and Pakistan.
In Pune, apart from garnering support from civil society, it has corporate houses coming forward and helping us in our endeavour to reach out to maximum people. In addition to the food provided by restaurant partners such as Terttulia, One Lounge, Prem’s, Boteco, The Little Door, Foodies, XOXO Desserts, etc, Robinhood Army has planned to prepare freshly cooked meals for our less fortunate folks which will be cooked centrally at one location and transported throughout the day at our target areas. We will be targeting all orphanages, old age homes, labour camps, schools for the specially-abled and the like. We request people to come out in green with their friends and family, serve food to nearby people and post pictures on social media with the hashtag: #Mission500k. Some of our support partners include Nyati Builders Pvt Ltd, Seed Infotech, Suruchi Hospitality and FAL, the makers of International Sunny Oils in India (our nutrition partner).
“We are grateful to join hands with RHA on #Mission500k as their nutrition partner. International Sunny oils have been enabling mothers all over the world, to lay a healthy foundation for their children’s future. It feels great to work towards making a difference to our society. I wish RHA all the very best in this truly inspiring endeavour” said Mr. Paul Thachil, CEO FAL, the makers of International Sunny fortified oils in India.
This Independence Day, major startups, musicians, and the Robin Hood Army (RHA), are coming together in a unique project to unite Indians and Pakistanis into action. #Mission500k will mobilize students, startups, families, and corporate offices to rally together and serve meals to 5,00,000 less fortunate people on both sides of the border on Independence Day. Marquee startups, Uber, Zomato, Snapdeal, Oyo, Grofers, Inshorts, Roposo, InMobi and Pressplay have joined hands to be a part of #Mission500k, while VH1 has driven the message through the music fraternity with artists, Farhan Akhtar, Uday Benegal, Vishal Dadlani, coming together for the nationwide movement.
“The Robin Hood Army’s desire to feed half a million people across India and Pakistan this year on their respective Independence Days is an effort I whole heartedly support. I appeal to people everywhere to participate in this incredible initiative to help eradicate hunger and malnutrition. It’s our world. We have to make it better.” said Farhan Akhtar.
“We are excited to bring everyone together and see the potential impact of this project. The idea is to get citizens across both countries to be aware and act on our common enemy – hunger.” said Neel Ghose, founder of the Robin Hood Army. In a first of its kind initiative, the startups will use their platforms and social media reach to spread the word to inspire millions of users to act. They will also contribute directly to the project by enabling people to donate in kind to #Mission500k; there will be strictly no fund raising.
“RHA’s journey has been truly inspiring for a lot of us at Zomato and beyond; it is also great to see the startup ecosystem coming together to make a collective and tangible difference. We are excited to join hands with them for #Mission500k this Independence Day and are hopeful they will achieve their goal.” said Deepinder Goyal, Founder & CEO of Zomato.
VH1 and Seagrams have created a music video featuring famous music artists, which shall be the anthem for the mission. Viewers will be encouraged to step out and help less fortunate countrymen on Independence Day, and share their moments on social media with the hashtag : #Mission500k. The RHA has a 5,000-member team across 30 cities that will set up and execute the operational framework. “When I first heard about the Robin Hood Army and their work, I was blown away by how simply they had created a solution for something nearly all of us have wondered: How does one redirect all that surplus restaurant food away from waste bins towards people who could really do with a meal. When I was approached to create a song that would bring awareness to this remarkable NGO there was no hesitation. I hope the song ‘Realign’ helps bring more attention to #Mission500k, their staggering new effort. That anyone should go hungry in these days of excess seems terribly wrong and this is a way to correct that” said Uday Benegal, musician and frontman of the band Indus Creed.
There are 230 million people in the sub-continent who do not get two square meals a day, though #Mission500k will create a small difference in the macro scheme of things, hopefully projects like these will inspire the community to work towards changing things for the better. If you wish to play your part in #Mission500k, find out more on: www.robinhoodarmy.com/mission500k
About the Robin Hood Army: The Robin Hood Army is a volunteer based organization that works to get surplus food from restaurants to the less fortunate sections of society in cities across Pakistan and India. The team consists of 5,215 volunteers spread across 30 cities, who have served over 6,00,000 people till date. The volunteers are largely young working professionals from varied fields who undertake this in their free time.
