You are a Champion Book for Young People in Devon

The Bookery’s mission is to create an environment for enterprising, resilient and creative communities inspired by books and stories, to empower & educate by enabling access to books and cultural opportunities regardless of income or other barriers.

Marcus Rashford MBE is famous worldwide for his skills both on and off the pitch – but before he was an international footballer and long before he started his inspiring campaign to end child food poverty, he was just an average kid from South Manchester.

Marcus’ book, You Are A Champion is a positive and inspiring guide for life, and shows our young people how to be the best they can be. The past 18 months have raised huge challenges and children in poverty have been among the worst affected. More than a third of all children are living in poverty in some parts of Devon.

Government figures have revealed that a massive 37,485 children in Devon live below the breadline.

Some 27,337 of those children were living in poverty despite one or more of their parents working - 73% of the total.

The overall number means that around one in every seven children in Devon is living in poverty (15%) - although that figure is higher in some areas than others.

Please help us get this positive, inspiring guide into the hands of as many young people as possible.

⚽️ Each donation of £5 will get a book into the hand of a young person who needs it through our links with local schools. 

⚽️ Every donation will be put into a prize draw for a signed, book-plated copy of You Are A Champion and a life size standee of Marcus.

#BrilliantBooksChangeLives

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* Update to Supporters 20/07/21 *

First of all, a huge heartfelt thank you for supporting this project - our first Crowdfunder. It means a lot to us, and your donation will mean young people in Devon will receive a copy of Marcus Rashford's You Are A Champion. We were keen to initiate a campaign for this book partly due to its inspirational message, and also in the light of reactions to the England game last week, to promote awareness of inclusion and diversity.

We're excited about this project and a few organisations such as the Amber Foundation (who provide home and hope to young people facing homelessness) have expressed their interest in receiving copies. We're also in contact with the publisher, Macmillan Children's Books, and Devon County Council who are keen to contribute to make this campaign a success.

We've listened to feedback and there is a feeling that our target of £6,000 could be a bit ambitious for our community in the current times. We’re keen to dream big, but we also want to be realistic - and most importantly, to deliver.

Taking all of this into consideration we are writing to you to propose we reduce the initial target for this project to £1,000 with a stretch target of £3,000. Factoring in support from other organisations this could still result in achieving our original target, we will let you know how this develops.

If you donated before 1pm on 20/07/21 and are happy with our decisions to lower the target you don’t need to do anything. If you donated before 1pm on 20/07/21 and given this update, you'd like us to refund your donation please let us know and we will process your request.

Thank you again for your support, we know how much small acts can make a difference and book ownership can change lives.