There are 230 million people across subcontinent who don’t get even two meals throughout the day. This independence day Robin Hood Army (RHA), a volunteer organisation, has launched #Mission500k, a project that aims to bring together people from India and Pakistan to feed five lakh needy people, on their respective Independence Days.

The Robin Hood Initiative was started in 2014 by Nel Ghose in Delhi with a vision to fight Starvation. 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 various fields who undertake this in their free times.

To get this going, the team tied has up with Uber, Zomato, Snapdeal, Oyo, Grofers, Inshorts, Roposo, InMobi and Pressplay, while RHA has driven the message through the music fraternity with artists like Farhan Akhtar, Uday Benegal, and Vishal Dadlani coming together to be a part of this movement.

Each startup is using their core model to help contribute to this mammoth project. Uber is providing transport across India and Pakistan, Zomato is helping reach out to restaurants through a microsite, InShorts is creating awareness with news bytes about the movement which will go to lakhs of users, Grofers is enabling their users to donate non-perishable food items via the app, while Oyo is serving breakfast on Independence Day through food sourced from all its properties.

Besides the actual contribution, each startup is working to push the idea of #Mission500k through social media/blog posts/mailers to their users asking them to join the movement.

Farhan Akhtar, who has tied up with Robin Hood Army says,

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 wholeheartedly 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.

Speaking of why he tied up with these startups, Neel says that these are young teams who are used to building quickly and creating impact disruptively. With these teams coming together, the Robin Hood Army has a very good opportunity to create widespread awareness and real impact.

Sarah Afridi, who set up the Robin Hood Army in Pakistan, says

What we need is not monetary contributions, but just the time and compassion of our fellow citizens.