Today we’d like to introduce you to Ajay Relan.
Ajay, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
#HashtagLunchbag began on Christmas 2012 in a Los Angeles apartment by a group of friends who were having trouble finding fun & meaningful way to give back. After a few failed attempts, we decided to take it upon ourselves and create our own experience.
We went to our local grocery store and bought enough food to prepare 100 lunches (the kind your mom made you in grade school that made the other kids jealous). We sang and danced. We cracked jokes. We took breaks to watch funny YouTube videos. We connected with each other on a different level, while having the time of our lives! We hit the streets near the Santa Monica Pier and Venice Boardwalk looking for anyone that could use a meal.
We smiled when asking people if they were hungry. We exchanged pleasantries while handing over our creations. We acknowledged their humanity, as well as our own. When we were done, we felt awesome and wanted to share the feeling with our friends! So we did. We shared on each of our social media platforms, jokingly tagging our posts with #HashtagLunchbag as an ode to hashtags… plus it rhymed with what we were distributing (simple enough, right?).
Originally, we did not intend to repeat our efforts. Shortly after sharing, however, we received an abnormally large amount of likes/comments/calls/texts/emails from people telling us how amazing this looked & wanting to join us for “the next one.” Riding the high of our good deeds, we decided to repeat our efforts a month later in January 2013. More of our friends joined, more meals were made, and more people were fed.
Once again, we felt awesome and once again, we shared. The ripple continued, and more people were hitting us up wanting to know how they could get involved. We ran it back for another go ’round in February 2013, growing out of our apartment to a local restaurant. We set a goal of making 1,000 meals. One hundred hundred people showed up for the party.
We added love notes of encouragement to each meal to further acknowledge those we were feeding, reminding them that they weren’t forgotten. Just like we did, everyone went on to share their experiences on their social platforms, intriguing and inspiring their friends and their followers. The ripple continued, and ever since we’ve hosted #HashtagLunchbag events at least once a month in Los Angeles.
Through our committed efforts, we began to see others, friends and strangers alike, replicate our model. We shared our story with anyone interested and empowered many to bring our movement to their local community with simple do-it-yourself instructions. To date, our movement has grown to 150+ cities hosting #HashtagLunchbag events around the globe!
We never thought that our small actions one Christmas morning would have gone global, inspiring others to spread love, one lunch bag at a time. Our rapid growth led to the formation of the Living Through Giving Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization that empowers humanity with the tools to create & benefit from organized acts of Love.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I’m not sure anything worth pursuing is ever a smooth road. However, the rewards whenever following something you truly believe in outweigh the struggles.
We had zero non-profit experience and prior to starting this spontaneous movement, had no desire to. Everything has been built backwards. Creating a structure for something that is successful because there wasn’t any structure, to begin with, has been our biggest challenge by far.
Our organization, now global, is nearly 100% run by volunteers. Providing each of them with the resources in order to carry out our mission is something we’re committed to and are actively searching for the right partnerships to keep our efforts going and growing.
Please tell us about Hashtag Lunchbag.
We’re proud to feed people, in more ways than one. Our #HashtagLunchbag program brings people of different backgrounds together in a fun, high energy environment to feed hungry people in their local community.
We also believe we are feeding a deeper hunger inside each and every one of us. With social media in everyone’s reach, we provide something to share and inspire others digitally to take action – whatever that means to them, however they can, wherever they are.
At our core, we are here to serve. #HashtagLunchbag is a gateway to giving in this sense, as we are providing all of those we come into contact with a way to feed their soul while having fun doing it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hashtaglunchbag.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @hashtaglunchbag
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hashtaglunchbag/
Image Credit:
Jennifer Johnson Photography
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