Marcus Rashford, one of Manchester United's star players, has made a huge breakthrough in his quest to help kids across Britian with a new free school meal scheme that will see £120m injected into what is being called the 'Covid Summer Food Fund'. Downing Street announced the initiative today.
This also comes off the back of Rashford's charity work with FareShare, a foundation that strives to combat hunger and food waste across the country, which went from him raising £100,000 to £20 million in just a matter of months.
Yesterday, 22-year-old Rashford wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson after the government said that they wouldn't be offering free school meals to children during the summer holidays. The letter stated that "the system isn't built for families like mine to succeed" (among other truths), which then led to the Department for Education stating that they would not be reversing their decision.
However, following Rashford's call for change and the support he's received from fans, Downing Street has now said that the children eligible for free school meals during term time (around 1.3 million) will receive a six-week voucher so they can obtain free school meals during summer.
The PM's official spokeman said: "Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the Prime Minister fully understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer. To reflect this, we will be providing a Covid Summer Food Fund. This will provide food vouchers covering the six-week holiday period."
Rashford expressed his connection to those in need when speaking about his own personal experiences with poverty with the BBC.
The move to supply free school meals also led for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to comment, where he said this U-turn from Johnson is "another welcome" one.
Marcus Rashford has proven to be a class act once again.
