PRESS RELEASE: FRIDAY 27TH JANUARY, 2017

  £66.3 MILLION TO CHARITIES AND GOOD CAUSES IN 2016

A STUNNING YEAR CELEBRATED AT PEOPLE'S POSTCODE LOTTERY ANNUAL CHARITY GALA 

        

Magic Breakfast's founder and Chief Executive, Carmel McConnell, was delighted to have attended the 2017 People’s Postcode Lottery Charity Gala this week where it was announced that £66.3 million was awarded to charities and good causes in 2016 - thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

 

Magic Breakfast is one of 69 charities that benefitted from this incredible funding, with £250,000 received in 2016 alone.

 

The news of the funding total was shared at the annual event, on Tuesday 24 January, at Prestonfield House in Edinburgh. The Charity Gala celebrated the phenomenal achievements of charities working across Great Britain and internationally that are supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

 

The event was attended by HRH The Prince of Wales, Sir David Attenborough, broadcaster Dermot Murnaghan and TV presenter Fiona Phillips. Entertainment on the night was provided by Mica Paris and Soul Nation.

 

Support to Magic Breakfast from players of People's Postcode Lottery has had a tremendous impact on the lives of thousands of children living in disadvantage areas of the UK who arrive at school hungry or malnourished. 

 

Carmel McConnell, founder and Chief Executive of Magic Breakfast, said: "Thanks to the vital funding from players of People's Postcode Lottery, we can provide a nutritious breakfast and expert support to five thousand vulnerable schoolchildren a day, giving them fuel for learning, nutrients they need to be healthy, and the gift of being able to focus on their lessons and do well at school". 

Carmel McConnell also congratulated People's Postcode Lottery on their stunning growth and radical vision for a better world.

 

Clara Govier, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “Our Gala is such a special time in People’s Postcode Lottery’s calendar where we come together and celebrate the incredible amount of money raised by our players and the fantastic work carried out by the supported charities as a result of the support. We continue to be overwhelmed by the incredible support of our players and thank them for their funding.”

 

Photo caption: Carmel McConnell, founder and Chief Executive of Magic Breakfast; Tom Halliley, Corporate Account Manager at Magic Breakfast.

NOTES 

People’s Postcode Lottery

• People’s Postcode Lottery is a charity lottery. Players play with their postcodes to win cash prizes, while raising money for charities and good causes across Great Britain and globally

• A minimum of 30% goes directly to charities and players have raised £168.4 Million for good causes across the country

• £10 for 10 draws paid monthly in advance with prizes every day. For further prize information visit: www.postcodelottery.co.uk/prizes

• Maximum amount a single ticket can win is 10% of the draw revenue to a maximum of £400,000

• Players can sign up by Direct Debit, credit card or PayPal online at www.postcodelottery.co.uk, or by calling 0808 10-9-8-7-6-5

• Postcode Lottery Limited is regulated by the Gambling Commission under certificate nr 000-000829-N-102511-011 and 000-000829-R-102513-010. Registered office: Titchfield House, 69/85 Tabernacle Street, London, EC2A 4RR    

• People's Postcode Lottery manages multiple society lotteries promoted by different charities. For details on which society lottery is running each week, visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/society

About Magic Breakfast

• Magic Breakfast is a registered charity (number: 1102510) providing free, healthy breakfasts to over 31,000 UK children every school day.
• The charity works with schools where over 35% of children are eligible for Free School Meals, or with Ever 6 FSM, helping them to establish breakfast provision that targets every hungry child. A hungry child cannot concentrate and will miss out on the most important lessons, taught in the morning, if not given anything to eat.
• There are more than 460 Magic Breakfast partner schools – primary, secondary, SEN schools and Pupil Referral Units in England, but we have over 300 schools on our waiting list requesting urgent food aid.
• Each “magic” breakfast, of cereal, porridge, bagels and fresh fruit juice, costs the charity just 22p to deliver thanks to the generosity of the charity’s food and funding partners.
• Magic Breakfast was the sole winner, in 2014, of the Department for Education’s Lot 3 tender to set up new breakfast clubs in 184 schools in areas of social deprivation.
• Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, funded by the Education Endowment Foundation, and with the support of Magic Breakfast, found that primary schools that offer a free, nutritious breakfast to pupils can boost their reading, writing and maths by two months over the course of an academic year.
• At least half a million children in the UK go to school hungry. The goal of Magic Breakfast is to ensure that, by 2020, there are no children in the UK starting lessons too hungry to learn.