Marcus Rashford praises Bristol students' free meal project

Premier League footballer Marcus Rashford has shown his support for a food poverty project launched by two Bristol students.

University of the West of England (UWE) students Christopher Dalingwater and Arshia Varziry started the Free Meal Project Bristol to help reduce food poverty in the city after being inspired by Rashford’s national campaign.

The pair created a crowdfunding page with the hope of raising £500 to buy and deliver food packages to local food banks.

In less than two months, they have raised more than £1,200 and have delivered over £1,000worth of food to food banks across Bristol.

The England and Manchester United player saw the students’ story on Twitter and shared it with his 4.3 million followers, tallying up more than 6.6K likes and 300 retweets.

Rashford started a national campaign during the second UK lockdown to raise money toprovide meals for vulnerable people, particularly school children, who at the time wereunable to receive free school meals.

The widely-covered campaign to end child poverty brought the issue to the attention of Christopher and Arshia who wanted to do something to help.

With a £150 start-up and all donations going towards food and packaging, the not-for-profit Free Meal Project Bristol campaign has exceeded the organisers' expectations.

Each week, they have been able to deliver between five and ten food boxes - valued at around £21 each - that are specialised to the needs of each individual food bank.

People can support the campaign via JustGiving.

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