The 22 year old Manchester United star has been at the forefront of end hunger and food poverty in the U.K As thousands of cafes, restaurants and local businesses stepped up during the lockdown after hearing Rashford’s pleas to help support struggling families without access to free school meals, the campaign has raised a whopping £20 million (Rs 192 crore) after teaming up with FareShare, the largest charity to fight hunger and food waste in the U.K. In an attempt to create a lasting change in the eradication of child food poverty, Rashford has teamed up with brands such as Aldi, Tesco, Deliveroo and Kellogg’s to create a ‘child food poverty task force’ to combat the social unrest amongst the most vulnerable population. Amidst the lockdown, Rashford and his task force have recognized that food poverty is a pandemic that could span generations unless corrective actions aren’t taken immediately. Rashford has campaigned for three provisions in a new petition. The first is to “expand free school meals to all under-16s where a parent or guardian is in receipt of Universal Credit or equivalent benefit”, thereby giving an additional 1.5 million between the ages of 7 – 16 being covered. The second provision is for meals to be provided during the vacations, and the third is to increase the food voucher for pregnant women from the current £ 3.10 per week to £ 4.25. The petition has topped over a million signatures, to become one of only five parliamentary petitions to reach that benchmark. An accurate result to showcase the inspiring forwards campaigning skills and the deft use of social media to garner support. Rashford’s campaign is nothing short of inspiring, and has brought the best out of the community to showcase kindness, generosity and some light in the lives of children and struggling families at a time when the world is experiencing one of the most difficult years in recent history. Written by Saad Rashid, Sports Enthusiast. The opinions and views expressed in the blog are strictly personal opinion of the author.
