Bringing smiles on faces of underprivileged men, women and children living in slums, the Robin Hood Army (RHA) served fresh meals, drinks and other eatables to at least 3,000 persons in Ludhiana as a part of their mega drive on Independence Day. Robin Hood Army- a nationwide group of volunteers who collect surplus food from restaurants and eateries and take it to the poor, were chasing target of serving one million people today on Independence Day under the mega drive ‘Mission Million’. In Punjab, Ludhiana and Abohar chapters of RHA are fully operational as of now. At least 30 volunteers distributed food and drinks in different slum clusters including BRS Nagar, Delhi road (near SPS Hospital), Hambran road, Chandigarh road and Tajpur road. Underprivileged slum children were seen dancing in joy as juices, sandwiches, muffins, cupcakes and sweets were served to them. In BRS Nagar slums, sanitary pads were also distributed to at least 50 women from slums and a talk was delivered on sexual health and menstrual hygiene by RHA volunteers. Speaking to The Indian Express, Tanya Garg, one of the volunteers said that at least 3,000 people from slums were served food today including hundreds of children who were also given cupcakes, juices and sweets. “We had contributions from several restaurants and eating joints. They donated several food items like dal-rice, samosas, sandwiches among others. Then we also had lassi and juices. A bakery also donated cupcakes. Other food items like bananas were arranged by our volunteers. So overall it was a wonderful experience and we managed feeding at least 3,000 people which is our contribution to Mission Million target of RHA across the country,” said Garg. “At least 3,000 packs of juices, 2,000 packs of sweet lassi, 500 muffins, 1,000 samosas, 600 servings of veg pulao, 350 patties, 150 sandwiches, 100 bananas and 250 meals of chapatis-veggies were served during our drive throughout the day. Volunteers had tied-up with several eateries, bakeries, cafes and restaurants to arrange food for this mega drive in advance,” said Arush Passi, founder of RHA Ludhiana chapter. “That smile on faces of slum children when they see us arriving with food is simply priceless. Now they recognize us and start dancing in joy when they see some people in green T-shirts coming towards them with food packets in hand. We feel we did something right this Independence Day,” said Paramjeet and Vaibhav, food managers of RHA Ludhiana chapter.
