Over £1.6m raised for those affected by Manchester attack

24 May 2017 News

JustGiving pages set up by the Manchester Evening News and the British Red Cross in the wake of Monday night’s bomb attack in Manchester have raised over £1.6m to support the families of those affected.

A page was set up by the Manchester Evening News on JustGiving yesterday morning with the initial target of raising £5,000 for the families of those injured or killed in the aftermath of the bomb attack on the Manchester Arena on Monday night which killed 22 people and injured a further 59.

As of the time of publishing, the page has raised around £1.1m from over 34,000 individual supporters. The MEN have also recently announced that the money raised "will be administered by the British Red Cross, who are offering support to affected families". 

The British Red Cross also announced that it would be launching its own, separate digital fundraising appeal for victims of the attack yesterday afternoon. The page is now live and is being run alongside the Lord Mayor of Manchester’s charity, We Love Manchester, and The Sun newspaper.

That page has raised around £560,000 from over 13,000 supporters. News UK, publisher of The Sun, made a corporate donation of £100,000 to the appeal.

A spokesman from JustGiving said that the digital giving platform had made a £50,000 donation to the British Red Cross appeal. 

A number of BT MyDonate pages have also been set up to fundraise for victims, including one called Muslims for Manchester, run by Muslim-faith based humanitarian aid charity Human Appeal which has raised nearly £4,000. Another set up by the Cheshire Community Foundation has raised over £1,500.

Muslim Charities Forum: 'heartfelt condolences'

In the wake of the attack, the Muslim Charities Forum, the umbrella body for Muslim humanitarian organisations based in the UK, released a statement: “MCF sends its heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have lost a loved one, and to those injured in the horrific attack on young children and families last night at Manchester Arena.

“MCF and its members also praise the response and great work of the emergency services who responded with great valour amidst a situation that can no less be described as carnage and terror. MCF and its members stand in solidarity against all those who seek to murder and divide the British communities. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the victims of terror both here in the UK and across the world.”

The statement also linked to the Muslims for Manchester BT MyDonate page.

It has also been reported by Sky Sports that Manchester City player Yaya Toure, and his agent Dimitri Seluk have each pledged to donate £50,000 “towards those impacted by Monday night’s attack”. 

Editor's note: This story will be updated as fundraising totals change.

 

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