Marcus Rashford food poverty campaign 'game changer' for North Yorkshire
FareShare Yorkshire is joining a task force calling for an expansion of free school meals.
An organisation backing Marcus Rashford’s campaign to end child food poverty here in North Yorkshire says it’s hopeful it’ll make a huge difference.
FareShare Yorkshire redistributes surplus food across charities in North Yorkshire, and is joining the footballer’s UK-wide taskforce to push for an expansion in free school meals.
The Manchester United player has teamed up with some of the UK’s biggest food brands to try and help reduce child food poverty.
He’s spoken about his own experiences of using a food voucher scheme as a child and successfully campaigned to extend free school meals this summer.
FareShare Yorkshire CEO Gareth Batty said: "Marcus' support over the last few months has been nothing short of game changing. This new campaign is fantastic and setting up this child food poverty task force is just another step from the work we've already been doing".
The group says they stand together with 12 other organisations to endorse the following three policy recommendations: Expansion of free school meals to every child from a household on Universal Credit or equivalent, expansion of holiday provision (food and activities) to support all children on free school meals and increasing the value of the Healthy Start vouchers to £4.25 per week (from £3.10).
Gareth went on to say: "we work with over 380 charities across Yorkshire and the Humber, and they're seeing first hand the impact of some of the issues families face daily. We want to work more closely with those organisations and make sure what we provide is sustainable and relevant".