Liverpool FC star Andy Robertson is calling on the government to give every child free school meals, regardless of age.
During the pandemic, the Scottish footballer helped out at a foodbank in Liverpool after seeing families struggling to make ends meet. But now, supporting the Sunday Mail’s campaign to feed all school children, he is calling for more to be done.
The 28-year-old said his work in helping foodbanks and feeding children at football camps by his charity AT26 have inspired him to do more, the Daily Record reports. He said: "If you’re getting good meals, then it can help their learning abilities. Being on an empty stomach, you don’t get that.
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"I don’t think anyone should be going hungry, so the fact is if people are coming to school with no food, then we need to try to get these people fed, that’s so important." Speaking about his childhood, he said how he always had food on the table, but his family were "never well off".
He added: "But they always gave to charities and me and my brother were brought up with that and I think both of us have carried that on." The 28-year-old went on to say his visits to food banks have had a profound impact on him. He said: "I don’t walk in there as a footballer, I walk in there as a normal person who is seeing someone else who is so reliant on these things.
"I met the people who were running it and relying on it and saw how overworked they were and how much work they were doing to get all this food out. The number of people relying on food banks was at an all-time high, especially during the pandemic.
"That’s why I supported five of the food banks in the Glasgow area at that time to help adults and kids. I’m based in Liverpool and I know the food bank numbers in Liverpool went through the roof during the pandemic.
"Nobody wants food banks because, if there’s no food banks, it means everyone is getting fed but, unfortunately, just now we need them and a lot of families rely on them. It’s up to everyone who can to help to try to ensure the number of these food banks goes down as we come out of the pandemic and try to get people in a better place financially. I feel as if we are a bit far away from that."
Andy has been helping children through his foundation, providing children with food at football camps. Pointing to Manchester United star Marcus Rashford, whose food poverty campaign forced the UK Government into action on free school meals, he said footballers now "a lot more socially active".
He said: "There’s a lot of us doing good work, especially in the background for things which don’t get headlines, but it means a lot to the charities and that’s sometimes the more important stuff. Not everyone is as fortunate as that and that doesn’t sit well with me. There’s always something that drives me forward."
Having started his career unpaid, Andy quickly rose to become one of the top 15 players in Europe. He added the pandemic allowed him to "reflect and think" and "small things can make a huge difference."
He said: "I know I can’t help everyone, I’m very realistic that I can’t. But I always said when I started my charity, ‘If I could help one person,’ and it’s always been like that. If you can help a small number of people or a big number of people, it doesn’t matter."
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