Manchester United star Marcus Rashford relied on free school meals as a kid. Now he’s working with a food charity to make sure millions of meals get to children who would otherwise go hungry now UK schools are closed.
Rashford’s donation seemingly originated from tough childhood experiences. His mother, Melanie Rashford, brought up the United fan with not much money to feed him.
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In a thread of tweets, the Red Devils forward said: “My mum worked all day every day when I was growing up to make sure I had at least one meal on the table every night. I needed breakfast club and free school meals otherwise I didn’t eat until 8/9pm.”
Earlier in April, Rashford, who has scored 14 goals in 22 Premier League appearances this season, partnered with the charity Fareshare to distribute food to kids who would otherwise go without meals with schools closed, as reported by the Sun.
The England international urged some UK supermarkets to donate to this fund, and he received a staggering £20M, in cash and food. Tesco donated food worth £15M, Asda contributed £2.5M cash and The Co-op provided £1.5M in food. Pret A Manger and Pizza Express also donated. This deal will give 2 million meals a week to vulnerable people.
Rashford has done truly brilliant work here and it’s great to see a top-level footballer use his profile to help those who will be more vulnerable during this current crisis. See his thread below for details…
Guys, 6 weeks ago I launched my partnership with @fareshareuk and I’m so proud of the progress we’ve made together. Today we are supplying over 2million meals a week to vulnerable people across the UK, meals they wouldn’t otherwise have (1)
— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) April 30, 2020
My mum worked all day every day when I was growing up to make sure I had at least one meal on the table every night. I needed breakfast club and free school meals otherwise I didn’t eat until 8/9pm.
Not every child is fortunate enough to get that evening meal… (2)
— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) April 30, 2020
So, to give this campaign another boost and for us to reach a lot more children than we currently are I’m doubling my personal donation to @fareshareuk (3)
— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) April 30, 2020