Barça’s English forward Marcus Rashford had the opportunity to visit two FC Barcelona Foundation projects today. Both were in Barcelona, and the first was Escola Vedruna, located in the Raval neighbourhood, followed by Centre Comunitari El Submarí in the Marina neighbourhood in Zona Franca. 

Excitement abounded as Rashford visited both centres alongside the managing director of the FC Barcelona Foundation, Dr Marta Segú. The FC Barcelona forward has already been directly involved in a range of socially-minded actions in Britain, which had a major impact and showed his social commitment. Rashford wanted to show this same commitment while as a Barça player in Barcelona and Catalonia too, collaborating with the FC Barcelona Foundation.



The player set off from the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper early afternoon. His first destination was Escola Vedruna in Ciutat Vella, an educational facility located in a socially-challenged neighbourhood. Within this scenario, the school operates using a model to show children drawn from different cultural backgrounds how to live together and integrate. Rashford learned about the situation in the neighbourhood and the impact of the Escola sense Violències (No violence at school) programme that was implemented two years ago with good results. The programme aims to prevent, identify and intervene at a primary education level when there is any form of violence an infant or adolescent may suffer in their different social surroundings.

The visit began with a meeting in the staffroom with representatives from the school and the player’s team to explain the context and the educational project, led by the management at the school. He then visited two classrooms, where clearly excited pupils were waiting and ready to speak with him in English. The interaction was facilitated by Dr Marta Segú and the English teacher, and it went smoothly, with the infants asking questions and sharing their thoughts with the player. He read from the different books he has published in the United Kingdom, books which focus on encouraging infants and young people to read and encouraging self-help among young people.

The visit continued into the playground, where a party-like atmosphere developed. Rashford and a group of children spent some time passing a ball between each other. The visit concluded with a number of group photos.

Second visit to learn about community work in Zona Franca

The player then travelled to the Marina neighbourhood in Zona Franca to visit the El Submarí community centre. There are a range of social issues in this neighbourhood. The centre aims to boost educational resources through socio-educational programmes that improve the quality of life of infants and their family.
 
With the support of Nike, the Barça Foundation implements the Esport al barri (Sport in the neighbourhood) project at this community centre, which encourages social inclusion and access to sport for infants and young people in vulnerable situations in Barcelona. There is a particular emphasis on encouraging female participation, ensuring equal opportunities for children and young people. Using the Barça Foundation SportNet socio-educational and sporting methodology, the project works on the positive values from sport: respect, teamwork, effort, humility and ambition, helping participants grow as people and in society through sport.

During the visit, Rashford helped give out snacks that people participating in the project receive every afternoon, along with different books, and then he played some sport with the boys and girls.   

Socially-minded Rashford

Marcus Rashford grew up in humble beginnings in the south of Manchester and experienced food insecurity first hand, as his family had to sometimes depend on soup kitchens for meals. This personal experience left its mark and has motivated him to act to prevent other children from going through the same experience. He made a public petition to the United Kingdom government in October 2020 for them to guarantee meals for children from vulnerable families during school holidays and to expand access to free school meals. The petition was backed by over one million signatures.

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