TheCable

Marcus Rashford, Manchester United and England forward, has been honoured by Queen Elizabeth II with an MBE for his works in helping children receive school meals during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 22-year-old was given the honour as part of the Queen’s birthday honours list for his free meal campaign during the lockdown imposed due to the pandemic.

The Manchester native campaigned for the government to allow about 1.3 million children to continue to claim free school meal vouchers.

In June, Rashford won a U-turn from the government in the United Kingdom to enable more than one million school children to receive meal vouchers throughout the summer holiday.

In a statement on his Twitter handle, the forward said he was “honoured and humbled” to receive the award.

“I’m incredibly honoured and humbled. As a young black man from Wythenshawe, never did I think I would be accepting an MBE, never mind an MBE at the age of 22. This is a very special moment for myself and my family, but particularly my mum who is the real deserving recipient of the honour,” he wrote.

“The fight to protect our most vulnerable children is far from over. I would be doing my community, and the families I have met and spoken with, an injustice if I didn’t use this opportunity to respectfully urge the Prime Minister, who recommended me for this honour, to support our children during the October half term with an extension of the voucher scheme, as the furlough scheme comes to an end and we face increased unemployment.

MBE 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/BYkeKY2chP

— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) October 9, 2020

“Another sticking plaster, but one that will give the parents of millions of children in the UK just one less thing to worry about.

“Let’s stand together in saying that no children in the UK should be going to bed hungry. As I have said many times before, no matter your feeling or opinion, not having access to food is NEVER the child’s fault.”

Rashford has continued his feeding campaign by collaborating with some of UK’s biggest food brands to help reduce child food poverty.