Marcus Rashford handed out cash to children and homeless in Manchester

The Manchester United and England forward has won praise for his ceaseless efforts to address the child food poverty crisis in the UK

Marcus Rashford handed cash out from his car to help children and the homeless, it has been revealed.

The Manchester United and England forward has won widespread praise for his ceaseless efforts to address the child food poverty crisis in the UK.

His campaigning has helped thousands of children all over the country and forced Boris Johnson and the government into a U-turn over their school meal voucher policy.

He was subsequently awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in October before receiving a special honour at BBC Sports Personality in December.

While Rashford has been rightly recognised in public his brother, Dwaine Maynard, has revealed a lot of his work has gone on unnoticed too.

In an interview with the WSJ Magazine he revealed that the 23-year-old used to drive around and hand out cash to people in the local community.

He continued until Dwaine advised him to look for other ways to make a difference.

“It’s actually not very safe for you to stop your car and do that," he said.

Rashford acknowledges that despite his efforts there remains a lot of work to do in the continued fight against child food poverty.

Speaking in a video hearing with the Commons petitions committee earlier in the year he said: “The main point is children and families need assurances that when they fall, they are going to have someone to lean on, they’re going to be protected.

“They [ministers] should have had things in place to assure people they’re not going to hit rock bottom and have no help. Because too many people that I’ve spoken to and the families and their children, they hit that point and they’ve had to build themselves back up on their own. And for me, that’s not fair.”

He added: “It seems like we have taken steps forward but in my mind we’ve got a million miles still to go.”

Meanwhile, the injury Rashford picked up in Sunday’s Manchester derby is not expected to be as serious as first feared.

Initial suggestions were of ankle ligament damage but scans earlier this week appear to have revealed a better outlook.

United return to action in the Europa League against AC Milan on Thursday and again in the Premier League against West Ham on Sunday.