Man Utd to deliver 5,000 school meals in October
Oct 26, 2020
Manchester [UK], October 26 : Five thousand meals will be cooked and delivered to local school children this week thanks to a partnership between FareShare, Manchester United, and Manchester United Foundation.
"Each day this week, food provided by FareShare will be processed, prepared, and packaged into individual meals at Old Trafford kitchen facilities by United staff, then shipped by the club to local Manchester United Foundation partner schools. The schools in turn will provide the meals to children who receive government-funded free meals during term-time. Six schools are involved: Waterhead Academy, Dean Trust Rose Bridge, The East Manchester Academy, Manchester Enterprise Academy, Manchester Academy and Stretford High School. Meals will also be delivered to other local charities as part of the scheme," United said in a statement.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more families are dealing with food poverty.
As the serious social implications of the pandemic became clear back in March, Manchester United and the Foundation made food poverty a central part of their COVID-19 response.
John Shiels, Chief Executive, Manchester United Foundation said in a statement: "We're incredibly proud and humbled to be working with FareShare over October half-term. This initiative will go a long way to ensuring that pupils from our partner schools and families using local food-banks have fresh meals to eat, during what we know is a difficult time for many. We've seen first-hand how children from socially challenged backgrounds can be even more vulnerable when they're not in school, it's therefore imperative to be present in their lives throughout the school holidays, showing that we care and the Foundation is always here to support."
FareShare is the UK's biggest food charity and is a founding member of the Child Food Poverty Taskforce, set up to help end child hunger in the UK and spearheaded by Marcus Rashford.
Miranda Kaunang, Head of Development at FareShare Greater Manchester, said: "The hardship brought on by COVID-19 has presented a challenge like nothing we've ever seen before. Demand for food has more than doubled and we are now distributing more than 80 tonnes of food a week - two thirds of which goes to children and families."
This initiative follows on from the successful collaboration to provide 60,000 meals to NHS staff back in May between United, Manchester United Foundation, Mealforce and the club's catering supplier, Bidfood.
