Marcus Rashford and Tom Kerridge meals campaign hits £200k

The pair teamed up for the project to design a free meals menu, including a special Christmas dinner

A campaign by footballer Marcus Rashford and chef Tom Kerridge to battle child food poverty has raised almost £200,000 to pay for some 750,000 meals.

The pair launched the Full Time Meals campaign for food redistribution charity FareShare in April.

As part of the project Kerridge designed 52 recipes, including a Christmas dinner for £10.

The chef said the pair were "delighted" at reaching the milestone.

Kerridge and Rashford made a special Christmas appeal for public donations which saw people donate the total between 13-31 December.

The money will enable the charity to provide an extra 750,000 meals to people in food poverty.

The charity distributed the equivalent of 132m meals in the last financial year and has seen its demand double since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rashford has become a prolific anti-poverty campaigner over the last two years, speaking about his own experiences of using food banks and free school meals and is also involved in boosting childhood literacy.

"It's been another strange and challenging Christmas period for people all over the country so it's amazing to see so many continue to club together to find a little something to give," the footballer said.

"Empathy and compassion are exactly what we need and it's amazing to see so many making a difference. A huge thank you from me to you."

The Manchester United forward's efforts to accelerate free school meal provision in England during holidays prompted major changes in government policy in 2020.

Kerridge, who has previously called for "robust" measures to help disadvantaged children, said the money donated to the Full Time Meals campaign was "absolutely outstanding".

"I'm delighted and can't thank everyone enough for their support," he said.

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