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- Lo Furneaux
Asset Reality is Proud to be Supporting Ben’s Miles for Meals!
Updated: Feb 24
Asset Reality is proud to be supporting ten-year-old Ben Dickinson as he plans to embark on a long distance charity walk from his hometown football ground Inver Park to Old Trafford in Manchester. Ben is working with food poverty charity FareShare and hopes to raise enough funds to provide 50,000 meals for vulnerable children in Northern Ireland and more. Ben was inspired to start his own charity campaign by his hero, Manchester United and England football player, Marcus Rashford MBE and his ambassador work with FareShare to redistribute surplus food to disadvantaged families in the UK. During Lockdown, he undertook a similar fundraising campaign for the Northern Ireland Hospice and raised over £7000 for the charity! This was featured on Sky Sports News, where they surprised Ben with a zoom call with Marcus himself!
Speaking of his campaign, Ben, an avid football fan and talented player at Greenisland FC, said: “Marcus Rashford is a hero to me, and when I saw all the great work he was doing with FareShare, I really wanted to play my part. I sat down with my dad to think about how I could get involved and having always loved keeping physically fit and doing things that challenge me, we came up with the idea of a charity walk.” Ben’s walk will take place over 8 days in March 2022, where friends and family will join him to walk from Larne football ground, Inver Park, to the iconic Old Trafford football stadium where he hopes to present a cheque of his final fundraising efforts to the FareShare ambassador himself, Marcus Rashford. Expressing his admiration for his son’s generous nature, father Andrew Dickinson, said: “Ben truly has a heart of gold. During lockdown last year, spurred on by boredom but more importantly selflessness, he started a fundraising campaign for Northern Ireland Hospice and raised more than £7,000 for the charity. Having been encouraged by Marcus Rashford to keep up the good work, he wants to build on his previous fundraising campaign and go bigger and better, and emulate his hero by championing FareShare.” Andrew continued:
“For every one pound he raises, FareShare can distribute four meals so I am unbelievably proud that he is driving something that will have such a massive impact on the lives of people in Northern Ireland and throughout Great Britain.” Aidan Larkin (Co-Founder & CEO) previously worked with Ben’s father Andrew and is more than proud to be supporting the family’s campaign:
“Asset Reality is proud to be helping Ben raise as much money as possible for FareShare. We strive to get money back into communities through the work we do with seized assets and will support any efforts to help this. Knowing Andrew and Ben personally means it is an absolute privilege to be involved. It supports the work I do with Sport Changes Life to help young people set a wonderful example for everyone else and change the lives of both others and themselves. Ben is a fantastic example of this spirit.” Méabh Austin, Development Manager at FareShare Northern Ireland, praised Ben’s determination:
“We are incredibly grateful that Ben is doing his sponsored walk in aid of FareShare. Last year in Northern Ireland alone we provided 1.9 million meals, almost double the previous year, which proves just how in demand our services are. We simply couldn’t do what we do without kind volunteers like Ben supporting us and helping raise the vital funds we need year after year. He is an inspiration to many, and we look forward to cheering him on throughout his charity walk in March!”
For more information on how to support Ben’s Miles for Meals, visit www.bensmilesformeals.co.uk or to donate £10 towards the FareShare charity, text BEN to 70490.