Yahoo News England footballer Marcus Rashford helps feed millions of school children during lockdown
With the coronavirus pandemic keeping athletes away from the pitch, footballer Marcus Rashford has been using the time to help his local community, including feeding millions of children.
The Manchester United and England striker has worked with charities, schools and shelters to help some of the country’s most vulnerable people.
It’s not the first time Rashford has been involved in launching campaigns and initiatives. Last winter he launched a campaign to help feed the homeless.
His ‘In The Box’ campaign encourages people to fill a shoebox with essential items and donate them to three homeless shelters: Barnabus, Centrepoint and Lifeshare.
Lockdown has been no different and the 22-year-old has continued to use his profile for good.
FareShare
Soon after lockdown restrictions were placed on the UK, Rashford began working with FareShare, a food redistribution charity. The company takes surplus food and turns it into meals for associated charities.
Since Rashford got involved with the charity he has raised £20 million.
Whilst keyworkers work tirelessly to keep our country going, many of their children are still coming into school each day. Thanks to support from @MarcusRashford, FareShare is continuing to provide food to some of these families, including pupils from Barnham Primary in Norfolk❤️ pic.twitter.com/oW01HGy4CV
— FareShare (@FareShareUK) May 20, 2020
As a direct result of his work with FareShare, supermarkets such as Asda, Tesco and The Co-Op have all made significant donations either in food or money.
His work has led to just under 2.8 million children being provided with meals. He was recently presented with an award from the High Sheriff of Greater Manchester Eamonn O'Neal for his efforts.
READ MORE: 6 footballers who don’t want to play due to coronavirus
Poetry judge
In February, Rashford received a letter from a young fan that read: “Dear Marcus Rashford, please will you be our judge for our World Book Day poetry competition?”
“The deaf children in Manchester will write poems. Please can you pick your winners! And give our prizes if you can? Please let us know if you can before Feb 7th.”
Given that he was asked to not just judge the competition, but also present prizes to the winners, he set about learning some sign language to do so.
✍️ @MarcusRashford is judging a poetry competition for children with hearing loss 👏#BBCBreakfast’s @sallynugent joined him for his first sign lesson… pic.twitter.com/wvv4Xob7ja
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) March 4, 2020
Teaching PE
The BBC’s Celebrity Supply Teacher begins on 8 June, with various famous faces delivering lessons to children during lockdown.
As well as Heston Blumenthal doing cookery, and Tim Peake teaching kids about all things space, the PE lessons are being done by Rashford.
The series will run on CBBC and BBC iPlayer.
Meet your new #CelebritySupplyTeacher! 🎓
🇪🇸 Spanish with @GaryLineker
⚽️ PE with @MarcusRashford
✍ English with @GeriHalliwell
🚀 Science with @astro_timpeake
👇 + so many more incredible teachers!
Learn more: https://t.co/mgMsXVgYSu pic.twitter.com/koPHGmrCgw— BBC North (@BBCNorthPR) May 27, 2020
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