The Robin Hood Army had embarked upon a nationwide campaign titled #mission28states to fight the pandemic’s biggest challenges — vaccine hesitancy and hunger. Till August 15, thousands of volunteers from every state of India drove mass vaccine awareness and enablement sessions across the country.

The organisation has served 5 million citizens meals and vaccinated 1,50,000 Indians. This was through strategic partnerships with local municipalities and healthcare facilities, and those vaccinated comprised homeless families, the transgender community, aged destitutes — those who needed help the most. The mission started on July 31 and many Indians who did not have access to Internet facilities or even smartphones to register for the government’s vaccination programme were benefited.

The Robin Hood Army is a volunteer-based, zero-funds organisation that works to procure surplus food from restaurants and the community to serve less fortunate people. Their local chapters are run by young people who hope to create a difference in their own unique way. For example, restaurants in the neighbourhood contribute to the homeless of the locality, through volunteers. The “Robins” are largely students, young working professionals, teachers, doctors, lawyers, homemakers, students, and retired folks — everyone does the work in their free time. The lesser-fortunate sections of society they serve include homeless families, orphanages, patients from public hospitals, and old-age homes.

Since its inception in 2014, the Robin Hood Army has been working on a hyperlocal model in which people and restaurants could let their volunteers know about surplus food. Volunteers then help distribute the surplus to communities within the locality. Over the years, the Robin Hood Army has served 73 million meals across 236 cities.

Robins involved in various humanitarian roles for the poor and needy across the country at different times

Neel Ghose, founder, Robin Hood Army Sourced by the correspondent

The organisation has launched another campaign to fight the evil of hunger-related deaths called ‘Independence from hunger’ and is distributing food ration among the needy.

The mission was powered by WhatsApp, Uber and Google, who had come forward to provide infrastructure for the mission. While Uber has provided thousands of rides, WhatsApp built a dedicated chatbot for the mission, and Google provided millions of meals.

Neel Ghose, founder, The Robin Hood Army, said: “The pandemic has been devastating for lakhs of families and widened inequities across our communities. While the government and administrations are doing their best, it’s important that civic society steps up and contributes our talent and resources. At the Robin Hood Army, we are stoked to bring together civic society and leading technology partners together to undertake this massive effort to increase outreach against Covid-19 and create impact across every state in the country.”