Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has been selected to receive the 2021 Pat Tillman Award for Service at the The 2021 ESPYS. Over the past year Rashford called on UK leaders to extend the school meal program for low-income children when the pandemic was at its most devastating for families.
What’s Happening:
- ESPN has announced that Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford will receive this year’s Pat Tillman Award for Service presented by MassMutual at The 2021 ESPYS.
- Rashford will be recognized for his part in raising millions in donations alongside food charity FareShare during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- In addition to being selected for the Pat Tillman Award, Rashford was recently named to TIME’s Top 100 List for his advocacy work on homelessness and child hunger.
- The 2021 ESPYS will air July 10th at 8 pm ET on ABC.
About Rashford’s Humanitarian Work:
- In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rashford took the British government to task on child hunger helping to secure free meals for school children of low-income families in the UK.
- With schools closed and parents out of work, many struggled to keep their families fed. The government originally planned to stop their school meal program, but Rashford wrote an open letter to members of parliament, calling for support.
- After the initial program extension ended, Rashford raised support and money helping to secure a £400 million grant to provide meals well into 2021, impacting the lives of 1.7 million kids in the UK.
- Separately, in April, Rashford announced the launch of the Marcus Rashford Book Club and a partnership with Macmillan Children’s Books to donate 390,000 books to underserved children in the UK and Scotland
What They’re Saying:
- Marcus Rashford: “An athlete is the least we can be. Sport can be the biggest driver of positive change, with its ability to truly unite. If I have achieved anything over the last year I would hope that it would be to demonstrate to my peers what is possible when we are driven by a passion and determination for better. Better not for ourselves, but for those whose voices are very rarely heard. We have a platform to speak on behalf of millions. When we wake up in the morning, we decide what we want to do with that platform. The reward of helping just one will always outweigh the risk of any negativity or criticism thrown my way. I’m honoured to be this year’s recipient of the Pat Tillman Award. A huge thank you to all involved.”
- Marie Tillman, board chair and co-founder of the Pat Tillman Foundation: “Marcus raised millions and brought together a coalition of restaurants and groceries to ensure that vulnerable children and families had enough to eat as the pandemic closed off resources to them in Great Britain. But he didn’t stop there — he twice took on the UK government to extend food benefits to families and he won. He saw a wrong and used his platform to guide those around him to making it right. Marcus’ passion for ending child poverty, inspired by his own experiences with food insecurity, mirror Pat’s passion for leading by example and identifying where he could unite others to make an impact.”
About the Pat Tillman Award for Service:
- Award was established in 2014 to commemorate the former NFL player and U.S. Army Ranger’s legacy, and honoring an individual with a strong connection to sports who has served others in a way that echoes Tillman’s legacy.
- Rashford will be presented with the award during The 2021 ESPYS.
- Past honorees include:
- U.S. Paralympic gold medal sled hockey player and Purple Heart recipient Josh Sweeney (2014)
- Notre Dame basketball player, Iraq war veteran and Purple Heart recipient Danielle Green (2015)
- U.S. Army Sgt. and Invictus Games gold medalist Elizabeth Marks (2016)
- Purple Heart recipient and Invictus Games gold medalist Israel Del Toro (2017)
- Navy-Marine Commendation Medal recipient, Sergeant and founder of Team Rubicon Jake Wood (2018)
- Marine and founder of the Kristie Ennis Foundation, Kristie Ennis (2019)
- Healthcare worker and boxing champion Kim Clavel (2020)
Anthony Mackie will host The 2021 ESPYS which airs July 10th at 8 pm ET on ABC.