Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford raises £20 million to feed local school kids

Earlier this month, Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford said he planned to raise funds to help provide food for Manchester area school children who were out of school and without proper food due to the coronavirus outbreak.

With the help of several corporate donations, Rashford just announced that a staggering £20 million has been raised, in the true definition of unselfishness. This is especially poignant as Premier League stars are being criticized for not doing more to help staff members of their respective teams.

Donations came from these sources:

- Tesco donated food worth £15m

- Supermarket giants Asda donated £2.5m in cash

- The Co-op, another Manchester-based supermarket, are providing £1.5m in food

- £160,000 in cash had also come in from the public

Rashford teamed up with FareShare to help the estimated 600,000 children get the food they needed because of the closure of schools across the UK.

The combined message was simple, asking food companies with a surplus of product to donate it, and the call was answered. Rashford, who announced he grew up on free school meals, also donated the largest single amount to the charity during that time.

“I am just trying to impact the next generation in a positive way. I have done a lot of work with children and when I heard about the schools shutting down, I knew some kids would not be getting free meals.

“When I was at school, I was on free meals and my mum wouldn’t get home until around six o’clock so my next meal would have been about eight o’clock.

“I was fortunate. There are kids in much more difficult situations who don’t get their meals at home.”

Rashford’s announcement comes just a day after fellow Manchester United players agreed to take a 30% pay cut in April and to donate that to area hospitals. Their contribution is expected to be around £1m.