Amazon and charity partner, Magic Breakfast, line up Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell, Professor Green, Dr. Ranj, Lia Lewis, and Rachel Riley to teach “VIB Clubs” at schools across the country this Christmas

Amazon extends partnership with Magic Breakfast to provide healthy breakfasts for children across the UK, including during school holidays; since the start of the pandemic Amazon has delivered more than two million meals

Magic Breakfast is among the thousands of charities around the world receiving millions of items through product and monetary donations from Amazon this festive season

LONDON – Wednesday 9th December, 2020 – Hundreds of children across the UK will enjoy a very special Christmas surprise when their usual teachers are replaced by stars including dance duo Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell from BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing; rapper and mental health advocate Professor Green; Countdown’s maths whizz Rachel Riley; TV doc, Dr. Ranj; and TikTok phenomenon and professional freestyle footballer, Lia Lewis, for Amazon.co.uk’s “VIB – Very Important Breakfast - Clubs”. Co-hosted with Magic Breakfast - a charity which provides healthy breakfasts and wrap-around support to tens of thousands of children in disadvantaged areas of the UK - these exclusive celebrity surprise lessons for schools were created to mark the two millionth meal delivered by Amazon this year alone and form part of a Christmas programme of donations by Amazon. Following e-visits to selected schools in Doncaster, Poole, Brent, Scunthorpe and Edinburgh, the Clubs will be made available on the Amazon.co.uk YouTube channel to bring some Christmas magic to all children for free this festive season.

“No child should be too hungry to learn, and we’re proud to help Magic Breakfast deliver meals to children at risk of hunger across the UK. When COVID-19 meant schools had to close, we made it our mission to reach as many children as possible at home, delivering food parcels directly to the doorstep of thousands of vulnerable children,” said John Boumphrey, Country Manager Amazon.co.uk. “This Christmas, we have created Very Important Breakfast Clubs to bring joy to children, schools and families across the UK, underpinning our ongoing commitment to deliver fuel for learning across the rest of the school year, including the holidays.”

Stars Surprise Schools with VIB Clubs
To start the day with a lesson like no other, children at five Magic Breakfast partner schools in Doncaster, Poole, Brent, Scunthorpe and Edinburgh will be surprised with virtual visits from:  

• Joe Sugg, one of the UK’s biggest YouTubers and 2018’s Strictly Come Dancing runner-up, who will be joined by his partner Dianne Buswell to treat the class to a cha-cha-rming dance lesson in the first VIB Club.
• Professor Green, the multi-platinum rapper, songwriter and mental health advocate, will be getting down with the kids to come up with some new rhymes in his freestyle rap session.
• Dr Ranj Singh, the NHS doctor and BAFTA award-winning TV presenter, will be beamed in with a brain-busting lesson in biology.
• Rachel Riley, Countdown presenter and one of the nation’s favourite mathematicians, will be playing the numbers game in her lesson, showing maths is as ‘easy as Pi’.
• Lia Lewis, British freestyle footballer and TikTok superstar, will kick-start the school day by teaching freestyle flair. With shin bounces, sole stalls and rainbow flicks all on the lesson plan, it will be a PE class with the wow factor!

  
Joe Sugg commented, "No child should start their day hungry. Dianne and I teamed up with Amazon and Magic Breakfast, who have delivered more than two million healthy meals to children this year alone, to create a Very Important Breakfast Club and help make sure children across the UK start their day with a healthy breakfast. I can't think of a better way to start the day than with a dance and breakfast, so I hope the children taking our Very Important Breakfast Club enjoy learning this special festive jive."

Dianne Buswell commented, "Teaching the children a jive was a fantastic way to bring some festive fun to their day alongside their healthy breakfast. I'm so pleased Joe and I could be a part of Amazon and Magic Breakfast's Very Important Breakfast Clubs. We had a ball creating and teaching our Christmas jive and most importantly, are helping to raise funds to ensure thousands of children can start their day with the fuel they need."

Schools and families around the country will be able to enjoy the VIB Club lessons on the Amazon.co.uk YouTube channel for free this Christmas.

Feeding Bodies and Minds
Magic Breakfast, an Amazon.co.uk charity partner since 2016, provides healthy school breakfasts to children in disadvantaged areas of the UK to combat food poverty as a barrier to education. When schools shut earlier this year due to COVID-19, Amazon worked with Magic Breakfast to deliver food parcels directly to the doorsteps of thousands of children around the UK. Today, the company announces that it has delivered two million ‘magic breakfasts’ to vulnerable children across the UK this year, and will expand its partnership to continue to deliver healthy breakfasts to children at risk of hunger throughout the rest of the school year and school holidays. Amazon is also helping Magic Breakfast digitise classrooms, providing thousands of children with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) equipment including coding robot kits and programming training.

Customers can support Magic Breakfast by donating here: www.magicbreakfast.com/donate/magic-breakfast or by choosing Magic Breakfast as their charity on Amazon Smile (available on the desktop site and the Amazon UK app), where customers can shop with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to a charity of their choice.

“We’ve worked with Amazon for over four years and, in 2020 alone, together we’ve delivered two million breakfasts to vulnerable children which is just astonishing,” said Alex Cunningham, CEO of Magic Breakfast. “After a challenging year, ending with the cancellation of many school celebrations, we hope that our VIB Clubs with Amazon will give children a reason to smile this Christmas, as well as raising funds and awareness for the most vulnerable in our communities. None of this would have been possible without our partnership with Amazon, so thank you to Amazon for their unwavering support and helping us end a difficult year with some Christmas magic."

Amazon’s Festive Giving
Magic Breakfast is among the thousands of charities around the world receiving millions of items through product and monetary donations from Amazon this festive season. Across Europe, Amazon has committed €21 million to support those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and in the UK,as well as working with Magic Breakfast, Amazon.co.uk is donating to organisations which are supporting communities directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These donations include delivering STEM-themed gifts to children supported by Barnardo’s; supporting DePaul with the essential work the charity does to provide emergency housing, necessities and support structures for families and young people; and helping the British Red Cross with its logistical support for the NHS including delivering medicine and getting patients home from hospital, as well as providing thousands of care packages for the elderly and isolated. Amazon is also working with NHS Charities Together to provide gifts for children who are in isolation or cannot leave hospital this Christmas and to support the elderly during the festive season, as well as aiding Home Start by sending Christmas donations to local branches of the charity across the UK.

Helping Customers Give Back While They Shop
AmazonSmile makes it easy for customers to support a good cause this Christmas at no extra cost. While shopping for gifts, Amazon customers can support Magic Breakfast or any one of more than 30,000 participating UK charities by visiting smile.amazon.co.uk or by activating AmazonSmile in the Amazon app on iPhones and Android phones under "Programs and Features" (please select a charity via smile.amazon.co.uk first). AmazonSmile has the same low prices and convenient shopping experience customers have come to expect from Amazon, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to a charity of your choice. AmazonSmile has donated more than £5.7 million to UK charities and more than £175 million globally to hundreds of thousands of charitable organisations.  

Customers can also support Magic Breakfast by donating here: www.magicbreakfast.com/donate/magic-breakfast or by choosing Magic Breakfast as their charity on AmazonSmile (available on the desktop site and the Amazon UK app), where customers can shop with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to a charity of their choice.  

- Ends -

Notes to Editors:

Amazon’s Very Important Breakfast Clubs are available here

Ways to support Magic Breakfast can be found here: https://www.magicbreakfast.com

For more information about how Amazon.co.uk is supporting local charities during the COVID-19 pandemic, please see here and here.

And for more information about Amazon’s global holiday donations, please find the press release here.

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Tel: 0203 942 1793

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About Amazon Smile
It’s easy for customers to support a good cause this Christmas on Amazon.co.uk. While shopping for gifts for family and friends, customers can support one of more than 30,000 participating UK charities by starting at smile.amazon.co.uk on a web browser, or by activating AmazonSmile in the Amazon app on iPhones and Android phones under "Programs and Features" (please select a charity via smile.amazon.co.uk first). AmazonSmile has the same low prices and convenient shopping experience customers have come to expect from Amazon, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to a charity of your choice. AmazonSmile has donated more than £5.7 million to UK charities and more than £175 million globally to hundreds of thousands of charitable organisations.

About Magic Breakfast
Magic Breakfast is a registered charity providing healthy breakfasts and wrap-around support to children in the UK who arrive at school too hungry to learn. The charity currently works with 480 schools across England and Scotland, normally ensuring that more than 48,400 children start their school day with the energy and nutrition they need to be able to make the most of their morning lessons. Magic Breakfast has continued to provide healthy breakfasts to children at risk of hunger during the Covid-19 crisis, whether at school or home.