Manchester homeless charity ‘blown away’ as rockers Metallica donate £40,000
Heavy metal group Metallica made a substantial donation to a Manchester-based homeless charity after playing a sold-out concert at the city’s Etihad Stadium.
The group gifted more than £40,000 to Coffee4Craig, a street kitchen and food bank for the city’s homeless community.
An image tweeted by the band’s All Within My Hands foundation showed a picture of the group handing over the cheque following Tuesday’s gig.
They wrote: “Thank you to all the fans attending #MetInManchester tonight for joining @metallica in supporting @coffee4craig, as they support vulnerable people in their community.”
Hendrix Lancaster, who co-founded the charity with his wife Risha, said the money was enough to fund the charity for the next year.
He told the Press Association: “The donation from Metallica blew us away, not only the financial donation but all the leftover food from catering and dressing rooms went to our out-of-hours drop in in Manchester City centre to feed the homeless.
“The reaction from the publicity has exceeded our expectations and has had a huge effect on raising awareness of the wider issues around homelessness, food poverty and all the work we do within the community.
“The band members were genuinely interested and just as excited as us when they handed the cheque over.
“It was an honour to be involved for the day and myself and (volunteers) Mandi and Conor were treated like VIPs.
“It was fantastic to be able to give something back to two of our volunteers. A night we’ll never forget.”
Councillor Sue Murphy, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, said: “It would be hard to find a more deserving charity than Coffee4Craig to receive this incredible donation.
“The actions of the band are truly humbling and will go a huge way in supporting some of the most vulnerable people in Manchester.”
The veteran US rockers, who have won multiple Grammys and sold tens of millions of records around the world, are known for their charitable work.
Last year they announced they were donating about £800,000 to 10 community colleges in the US to boost their career and technical education certificate programs.
Founded in 2017, the foundation aims to create sustainable communities, fight hunger and support local services.
Through it the band are donating money in every town or city they visit on their WorldWired Tour, which next month takes them to Europe.
The band’s current line-up includes singer-guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo.
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