"We didn't plan to start an NGO. We planned to feed one dog. The rest just followed."
It began in 2021, on a winter evening in Alipurduar. A small group of friends saw a stray dog shivering near the bus stand — bones visible, eyes hopeless. They bought rice from a nearby dhaba. The next evening, they came back. And the evening after that.
Word spread. More volunteers joined. The one dog became ten. Ten became fifty. Fifty became a neighbourhood. By 2023, we were feeding hundreds across the town every single day — and we knew this couldn't stay informal anymore.
We registered officially with the Government of India (Reg. S0050956), built systems for transparency, set up vaccination drives, partnered with local vets, and started travelling to villages where animal welfare had never reached. The cricket team came soon after — because we wanted the cause to live beyond the bowl.
Today, Run For Life is a fully registered NGO running across streets, fields and forgotten villages of Alipurduar — but at heart, we're still those volunteers with packets of biscuits. The mission hasn't changed. Just the scale.