Man United’s Rashford awarded an MBE

Manchester United‘s Marcus Rashford has been honoured by Queen Elizabeth II with an MBE for his work in helping children receive school meals during the coronavirus pandemic.

MBE stands for Member of the Order of the British Empire and is an honour Britain gives its citizens for making a positive impact in their line of work. Other notable footballers who have received MBEs include Alex Scott, Harry Kane, Steven Gerrard, Ian Wright and Fara Williams.

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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.

The 22-year-old, who relied on meal vouchers during his school days in Manchester, was praised by Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his “contribution to the debate around poverty.”

Rashford, who has also raised £20 million for charities working to combat food poverty, wrote an open letter to MPs urging a rethink after the government indicated they would stop school meal vouchers at the end of the school year.

Speaking to BBC about the honour, Rashford said: “It’s a nice moment for me personally but I feel like I’m still at the beginning of the journey that I set out to try to achieve.

“I think what I would like to do now that I’m in this position is just speak directly to the prime minister and really ask for the vouchers to be extended until at least October half-term because I think that’s what the families need.

“Speaking to them and knowing how much they’ve been helped, and how much it’s going to affect them if they don’t have it, that’s got to be my main focus now — to get that message across.”