Man United to provide 5,000 free school meals in October holidays with Rashford initiative

Manchester United have announced that they will provide 5,000 free school meals during the October half-term holidays to boost the Marcus Rashford initiative to end child food poverty in the United Kingdom. The Rashford initiative has campaigned for the government to provide food vouchers during school holidays to children who normally receive free meals during term time if their parents receive welfare support.

Dozens of local organisations all over the country came forward last week to supply free school meals in response to the 22-year-old’s plea on social media and by working together with the charity FareShare, meals will be prepared and packaged individually at Old Trafford by club staff before being shipped to local Manchester United Foundation partner schools. Six local schools will receive the meals while others will be delivered to local charities.

“Many of Manchester’s children are going hungry and they are particularly vulnerable during school holidays when they cannot benefit from the meal voucher programme. In parallel with the brilliant work being done individually by Marcus Rashford, we’re proud that the club continues to step in alongside FareShare, the Foundation and their partner schools to help fill this void.”  Collette Roche, Chief Operating Officer at Man United said.

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England Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he fully accepted that children going hungry during school holidays was a problem during the COVID-19 pandemic but he had not spoken to Rashford since June. However, he clearly believes what the Rashford initiative is doing is terrific. Johnson claimed that his government funds the local councils and many of the organisations that are helping in this period but are also uplifting the Universal Credit by £1,000 and it thinks that it is one of the best ways of helping families in these tough times.

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West Ham joint-chairman supports Rashford charity 

West Ham joint-chairman David Sullivan has personally donated £25,000 to FareShare, the club have announced. Speaking about his contribution Sullivan said: "Marcus Rashford has done such a fantastic job of raising awareness and leading the way in tackling this very important issue, which impacts so many youngsters in our local communities up and down the country. It is a privilege to be able to help."

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Image credits: Marcus Rashford Instagram