Six-year-olds in cycling challenge for Telford foodbanks
Two six-year-olds from Telford are clocking up the miles on their new bikes to raise money for foodbanks, after being inspired by Marcus Rushford's school meals campaign.
Erin-Mae Goodwin-Samuels, from Trench, and Rosie Thorpe-Mowlem, from Church Aston, are undertaking a mammoth cycling challenge over two weekends to raise money for Telford Crisis Support.
The girls, who attend Tibberton Primary School, were inspired by professional footballer Marcus Rashford's recent campaign to persuade the Government to provide free school meals to vulnerable children.
Claire Goodwin, Erin-Mae's mom, said before being told about it, the girls hadn't really understood that some children might go without food at times, and so were inspired to cycle 46km for the 46 days children are off school in the summer holidays.
"Finances are not always available and over this difficult period it is even harder for some families," she said.
"We were trying to think of something they could do to raise money, and they both had new bikes during lockdown so we thought of a cycling challenge.
"They are covering 46km for the 46 days of the summer holidays. Each kilometre is a day that a child is off school. The girls are great they have been loving it, we had a picnic at the midway point last weekend.
Impact
"It's a good challenge for them. We did the calculations and stuff so we knew we would stagger it a bit over a couple of weeks. Myself and Rosie's mom have been cycling along with them."
Claire said they were really proud of the girls and how they had really got behind the challenge.
"When we were cycling last weekend, we were talking about the children not having any food and they fully understood the impact that would have," she said.
"We chose the Telford Crisis Support to fundraise for because they have multiple foodbanks they help. The girls have raised more than £600 between them.
"They are planning to buy some food and actually take it to the crisis support centre in Telford so they can see the whole process and understand it, the rest they will donate."
Visit www.gofundme.com/f/erinmae-amp-rosie039s-food-for-families-over-summer to donate to their cause.
