THE POOR MAN’S ARMY

“I have a white collar 9-5 job which is satisfying, but I was struggling to find a meaning to life,” was what Mr. Ashish Ranjan, a consultant with KPMG told me when I asked him what the driving force behind him joining the Robin Hood Army was. I firmly believe the reasons might invariably be similar with other professionals who were there with him.

The Robin Hood Army is a volunteer based organisation founded by Mr. Neel Ghose & Mr. Anand Sinha couple of years back , with a mission to “Serve the hungry citizen.” They have 2300+ volunteers spread across 19 cities serving more than 350,000 people, by getting surplus food from restaurants & giving them to the lesser fortunate sections of the society.

Our drive with the Army started off with a visit to a shanty area nearby JVLR (Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road). There were about 50 kids who were eagerly awaiting their arrival. The way the Robins went about the distribution of food was a lesson in organization by itself. The plight of the children in those areas is appalling. It was not just food that they were being deprived of. They were missing out on a lot more than that. Almost all of the basic needs that a child requires, like education, sanitation etc., are never catered to in such areas. Fortunately, the Robin Hood army was also taking care of factors other than food.  Ashish says “Food is just a medium for us to connect with these people. After a couple of drives they bond with us & start opening up, and then the other larger issues at hand can be properly addressed by us.” They walk the talk, as was seen from the fact that they were giving wonderful clothes, books to work on, and enlightening them about the need for the same. But the biggest service I felt was the amount of confidence they imparted onto the children and making them feel special & wanted. It requires a little effort to execute it but once you touch a life, it will impact you forever. The smile that you receive from them is the most valuable currency there is on the planet.

It’s such a humbling experience to watch executives of the highest positions taking time off from their Sundays, being with the deprived and lending them a helping hand. In fact, it motivates one to take a leaf out of one's book and emulate them. As the drive got over, one question kept on reverberating inside my head “If they can do it, Why can't I?

This article has been written by Sooraj, a member of our club. We encourage everyone to pen down their experiences.