At least 100 organisations have offered to supply free school meals during half term, inspired by footballer Marcus Rashford’s campaign to end child food poverty.
On Thursday, Rashford encouraged anyone wishing to join him to tweet using the hashtag #endchildfoodpoverty and he would retweet with a locator, saying he was “blown away” by the support he’d received.
By 2pm on Friday, he had retweeted at least 80 such offers.
Those offering to help ranged from cafes, sandwich shops and pubs, to charities, catering companies and restaurant chains, such as the Big Smoke Brewery.
Some of those taking part are located in areas where they have to close due to new lockdown measures.
Councils in Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Wigan and Doncaster are among those across the country to have pledged support, along with those of several London boroughs including Lambeth, Redbridge and Hammersmith and Fulham.
One email, from a community organisation in Birkenhead, listed 17 local businesses that had promised to get involved. (SKY)
Responding to the tweets, which continued on Friday, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, tweeted: “If you need reminding that our country is far better and more generous than this government, have a look at @MarcusRashford’s Twitter feed this morning. #ENDCHILDFOODPOVERTY”
(C) Control TV 2020.