Marcus Rashford has joined forces with Aldi to donate meals to UK families this year by narrating their “10 million meals” campaign animation.
The animation is part of the supermarket’s campaign to donate 10 million meals to UK families, with 1.8 million going to those in the North West.
The animation shows hunger through a child’s eyes and aims to raise awareness of those families struggling to put food on the table. Illustrator Lisa Stickley created the animation and Rashford narrates the accompanying poem written by award-winning children’s author, Giles Andreae.
Rashford said: “Reading the script for the Aldi animation I felt like I was talking about myself 10 years ago. This story is a reality for millions of children so, of course, I was happy to lend my voice.”
Aldi UK & Ireland CEO, Giles Hurley said: “At Aldi we’re making it our mission to fight against child food poverty as no child should ever go hungry.”
The campaign is a continuation of Aldi’s partnership with Neighbourly, a platform that connects businesses with their local communities. Since 2019, Aldi and Neighbourly have provided 12 million meals to the communities across their 900 UK Stores. They’ve achieved this by stores donating surplus food to their local community groups, who in turn distribute amongst their network.
Research by Aldi and Neighbourly suggests families in the North West that needed help with food provision increased by 76% in the past 6 months. Their research indicates this is set to rise in 2021.
This comes amidst the government announcing that free school meals will not be provided in February half term.
Neighbourly CEO Steve Butterworth has acknowledged the backbone of the campaign is the Aldi staff, he said: “Store staff are so fantastically passionate about making this work because it’s benefiting their communities where they live.”
As for reaching 10 million meals in 2021 alone, he added: “It’s ambitious but I don’t think anyone is going to rest on their laurels until they hit that number.”
