‘Marcus Rashford is an absolute hero’: GMB viewers praise star as he says his mother’s struggle to feed her family inspired his free school meals fight – and urges those in need to speak out
by Luke May For Mailonline- Marcus Rashford, 22, spoke to GMB about his campaign for free school meals
- Government reversed a decision to pull funding for free lunch vouchers in June
- Rashford revealed he is working on a taskforce to help more struggling families
- The striker was praised as an 'incredible bloke' while speaking on GMB today
Marcus Rashford has been praised as an 'absolute hero,' as he spoke about his fight to end child poverty and shared his mother's struggle to feed her family, while encouraging others to speak out.
The Manchester United striker, 22, has previously spoken of how his mother would go to bed in tears as she struggled to support her family.
In June, the England star's campaigning manged to force a reversal from Government over plans to stop funding free school lunch vouchers.
Since then he has launched a taskforce with some of Britain's biggest retailers to combat child poverty.
Piers Morgan heaped his own praises on the forward, saying: 'We're enormously admiring of what you've achieved, I don't want to patronise you, but for a 22-year-old, young footballer to have had the impact you've had on such a crucial issue as child poverty, is a remarkable thing.
'You should be very proud of yourself and your mum, I'm sure she's watching, should be very proud of you too. I'm sure she is.'
Viewers were just as admiring of the young Premier League star.
Cameron Packman commented during the interview: 'Total respect for you dude, love what your(sic) doing.
'Keep doing what you're doing because I know how it feels going hungry when I was a kid.'
Rashford has teamed up with the food industry to shed light on the issue of child food poverty in the UK.
Along with Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Deliveroo, FareShare, Food Foundation, Iceland, Kellogg's, Lidl, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose, he has formed the 'Child Food Poverty Task Force'.
Over the next six weeks, the task force members will dedicate their platforms to sharing stories of those most affected by child food insecurity in the UK.
The young footballer has already been able to help families since the Government's U-turn in June.
Describing their reaction, he said: 'They actually say that I don't understand how much it has helped them.
'Which is kind of true because my mum never got that help when I was younger, so I'm not sure what that response was going to be, but it was all good stuff and it just drives me more to help them as much as I can.'
Rashford, who himself experienced poverty while growing up in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, has urged families to speak up if they are struggling.
Last week Rashford clashed with Kevin Hollinrake on Twitter, after the Tory MP said it was a parents 'job' to feed their children.
Speaking about the tweet today, the footballer said: 'It just puts (parents) in a spotlight they don't want to be in.
'When you've got someone telling them they should be able to feed their own kids and then they've got a group of people trying to help. If they don't come forward it makes it 10 times more difficult to help them because you have to find them.
'I really wanted to just kill the stigma of asking for help because it's a positive thing to get yourself out of a situation I just want that stigma to die.'
During the interview on GMB, Rashford was given the chance to share what its like to grow up hungry and in poverty.
He said: 'You don't feel comfortable going to school, most of the time the ones that are going in, they just sleep all day because they're physically drained and that's not to mention if they like to do things in sports.
'There's a lot of things it can effect and it's always the beginning of something else it can be the beginning of homelessness or the beginning of crime, it just starts so many different pathways that you don't want to be on.'
He explained how his experiences growing up continue to motivate him today, saying: 'For me, a lot of the inspiration came from them moments and that's the reason why it's so personal to me.
'But also, especially over the last few weeks, I've actually managed to sit down with some of the families that we've helped and some of the families that still need help and its just taken it that one step further.
'I believe if people heard their voices, like I heard their voices, then they're going to join the taskforce and make things easier for them.'