An NGO founded by two youngsters Rhea Kochhar, Co-founder and Founder, Pavneet Singh Chadha of HFI have come together with the vision of contributing to society. HFI’s aim is to focus on helping local vendors, donations, conducting drives, workshops, etc. to create awareness and to give them a boost. HFI (Help & Feed India Association) is a registered Organization under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Section 8 Companies Act with a Team of about 50+ Volunteers across 3 Regions Kanpur, Delhi, and Mumbai.
Incubees: Tell us about yourself and your journey of starting an organization on your own.
Rhea & Pavneet: I am a Counseling Psychologist and a Child Development Trainer by Profession. I am an active listener and empathy is my strength. Being a Leader at HFI gives me a chance to learn more not just by myself but along with my entire team where it becomes a two-way street to take everyone along ahead.
Pavneet and I met at CRY (Child Rights and You) when I joined there as an Intern and we have been very good friends since then. I remember having a conversation with Pavneet where we were talking about the most viral “BABA KA DHABA” video and Pavneet told me that “Rhea let’s start something and build a small community to help such local vendors”. I heard the idea and was impressed with it. At that point in time both of us felt it was just an idea but then things started working out. We came up with the name of the organization, then the logo, then we told our friends and then built a core team of 13-14 people. That is when we founded Help & Feed India Association.
Initially, we started in 5 Regions: Delhi, Kanpur, Aurangabad, Tripura & Guwahati. 3rd December 2020, Help & Feed India Association got registered under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs Section 8 Companies Act. Our team got stronger and bigger when volunteers also started joining our organization. Our first donation was to an old cobbler, in Kanpur, who was handicapped and had no walking stick. We gave him a walking stick and warm clothes as winters were approaching. We received our first blessings through him when he said, “Aise hi aagey badhte raho” at That moment we felt that we were on the right path. When we started our journey, we had to learn and unlearn a lot of skills to grow as an organization from Content Generation, Team building, team management, social media skills, etc. It has been an adventurous roller coaster ride since then.
Pavneet Singh Chadha: I am a National level Badminton player and self-employed. I always wanted to do something for the society and so I came across Child Rights and You [CRY]. It was such a great opportunity to contribute to society through the CRY platform. These experiences have been fruitful and I owe them to my mentors. I met so many people and made such good friends who are still in touch with me.
I saw my father doing a lot of social work and I participated too. When I saw the viral video of “BABA KA DHABA” it went like a spark and made me realize that as responsible young adults, we can come together and stand for these hard-working local vendors. That’s when I pitched this idea to Rhea to start something and build a small community to help such local vendors.
I respect my team and I believe that hard work comes from team effort and not just a single individual. I have always prioritized my team members above me and appreciate even the tiniest of tasks to boost the morale of our team members. Doing many campaigns and drives with such young enthusiasts has been an experience of pure satisfaction.
I remember telling Rhea that day that yes, we are on the right path!! Since then, we’ve done many campaigns and drives like Diwali Distribution, Christmas Distribution, Winter warmth Campaigns, Food Drives (Aurangabad, Delhi, Kanpur), #righttobleed campaigns in collaboration with NIINE India, Project Shamil, Project Raahat, and many more such projects.
Incubees: What made you think of HFI and what motivated you to start an NGO?
Pavneet & Rhea: When we saw the Baba ka Dhaba video go viral, we thought about how much the Local Vendors would have been impacted due to the Pandemic and if the youth today comes together and we start an initiative (initially we named it as a campaign) to support the local vendors if we are 10 people contributing ₹50 – ₹100 every month we would be able to support this population and also share their struggles with the society. We were two good friends both of us were good in certain domains and that’s how we pitched in our friends about this idea soon we set up a date to start with a meeting of our first Core Team and here we are with those tiny steps, a Registered Organization under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Section 8 Companies Act with a Team of about 50+ Volunteers across 3 Regions Kanpur, Delhi, and Mumbai.
Incubees: What were the complications you had to face during your journey?
Pavneet & Rhea: When we started HFI we had to learn and grow at each and every step. First came Team Management, Leadership, Delegation, handling social media, learning Canva skills, generating the content, etc. All these learnings take time and when you learn one skill, you keep learning more it’s unstoppable. It has been 2 years since we started HFI. The one thing that stays constant is commitment and dedication among our volunteers. Sometimes they need a boost and sometimes a push which can help them be a part of not just the organization where they work but become a part of the HFI Family as a whole and experience the joy from the cause that we work for.
Incubees: How do you raise funds and what are your future plans in regard to monetary related concerns?
Pavneet & Rhea: Initially, internally from the team everyone started to contribute ₹100 every month. Then when we got registered, we started collecting funds from our family and friends and slowly and steadily we reached out to more people through many initiatives, we raised funds and kind donations. It is definitely not easy at first as we still were growing and seeking support and spreading the word about our cause but slowly and gradually as we worked more; we did more projects we started receiving support and generous donations. We have never made it mandatory that everyone who joins HFI has to donate it is a voluntary choice when they start working with us. We have done various fundraiser projects in collaboration with organizations like Girl Up Phoenix (UN Foundations Initiative) where we collaborated for a Fundraiser Project Shamil and collected funds to distribute Earthen Pots and Rashan, Project Raahat (Post COVID 2nd Wave) distributing Sanitary and Rashan Kits to the underprivileged sectors, Project Breathe raising funds for Oxygen Cans to aid people suffering from COVID-19 mild-moderate symptoms during the 2nd wave, etc. When we talk about our future plans, we plan to engage more with CSR activities with more corporates through employee engagement, collaborations and associations with more NGOs and associating with Government bodies.
Incubees: What was the main objective behind starting an NGO?
Pavneet & Rhea: During the first wave of COVID when everything got shut down, businesses got affected, and the most impacted were the street/local vendors. Post the 1st wave when things started to resume the local vendors came back on the streets but with very less business and that is when we also saw the video of “Baba ka Dhaba” where everyone came together to support and help that old couple. That was when we thought of starting an initiative where the youth can come together with a zest to work and support society in as many ways as possible and in January 2021, we did a Food Drive across our Regions in association with Food Bloggers and Local Vendors to support and promote them and we also support and promote Local Vendors during our Diwali celebration where we buy Diya’s and sweets from the street vendors and don’t bargain with them for the same.
Incubees: Tell us about some of your campaigns.
Pavneet & Rhea: We started first by helping an old man who was a cobbler with a Walking stick and warm clothes to provide better comfort through the winters and support to walk with. We have also worked in various domains like:
– Project Raahat – Aimed at distributing Sanitary and Rashan Kits to the underprivileged sectors.
– Project Shamil – In association with Girl Up Phoenix just before the 2nd Wave of Covid where we distributed Earthen Pots and Rashan to the underprivileged sector so as to help them through the scorching Summers.
– Project Breathe – In association with 4-5 more NGOs across Delhi and Kanpur for providing Oxygen Cans during the extreme 2nd Wave of COVID-19 for those with mild-moderate symptoms.
– Winter Warmth Campaign: Aimed at Distributing Old Warm clothes to help the people on the streets through the winter.
We have also collaborated with GAIL India for this project.
– Right To Bleed Campaign: Aimed at spreading awareness regarding Menstrual Hygiene in collaboration with Niine.
– Plantation Drives: Aimed at supporting the environment and planting Saplings across all 4 Regions on the occasion of Independence Day.
– Project R3: Aimed at reducing, reusing, and recycling plastic and turning plastic waste into recyclable products.
– Mental Health Workshop: Aimed at spreading awareness of the Importance of Mental Health and the need to Talk about it.
– Diwali Celebration: Aimed at supporting the Local Vendors through the festive season and promoting their work.
– Christmas Celebration: Aimed at spreading Christmas Joy among underprivileged children and celebrating the joyous occasion with them.
– Weekends with HFI: Where Team HFI aims to work on Sundays and distribute food and a seasonal beverage to the underprivileged sectors and people on the streets on the Weekends (Chai in Winters and Roohafza in Summers).
Incubees: What message would you like to give to the youth?
Pavneet & Rhea: Today’s youth have a lot of empathy and understanding to help and support others and we see that in our Volunteers as well. We just have one message for them to trust their instincts, follow their dreams, keep believing in themselves when no one does, stand on their toes with heads held high and chase their goals with all they have, to always keep their inner child alive and listen to the inner child, to be grateful and, to not be scared and face their fears with their inner strength. We welcome more people to join us in our cause and experience joy as our tagline says “We stand in solidarity to create Joy”.
