The Robin Hoods of food waste: volunteers fight global hunger crisis by donating to the poor
- Robin Hood Army was founded five years ago by three Indians as a volunteer-based organisation fighting hunger in the country’s communities
- It has since gone global, with chapters in Southeast Asia, South America and Africa
The world produces enough food to feed everyone, and yet 821 million people – one in nine worldwide – suffer from hunger and malnutrition, according to United Nations statistics, released last year.
One-third of all the food produced is never consumed, and yet 3.1 million children under five die of hunger every year. That’s equivalent to one death every 10 seconds.
The biggest cause of hunger worldwide is poverty, and despite billions of dollars in humanitarian aid and the effort of thousands of government organisations, food banks, NGOs and charities, distribution channels for subsidised and free food fall short of demand.
Trying to bridge that gap is the Robin Hood Army, a global, volunteer-based organisation originating from India.
“Our vision is to beat global hunger and bring out the best of humanity using food as a medium,” says Neel Ghose, 29, who co-founded the charity. He started the Robin Hood Army in 2014 with friend Anand Sinha, and was joined a month later by Aarushi Batra – another friend.
Ghose was working in Portugal when he came across ReFood, an organisation that collects leftover food from restaurants and distributes it to the hungry.