A LOCAL businessman is pledging £1m a week to charities to help some of the most vulnerable sectors of society cope with coronavirus – and he’s called on other people to follow suit.

Philanthropist and businessman Steve Morgan - owner of Ewloe-based housebuilder Redrow - founded the Steve Morgan Foundation in 2001 to support charities that help children and families, people with physical or learning disabilities, the elderly, or those that are socially disadvantaged in Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales.

And Mr Morgan, who formerly owned Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, has launched the scheme to help cash-strapped charities in the Foundation’s catchment area impacted by the critical phase of coronavirus but urged other entrepreneurs and philanthropists to do the same.

“The £1m per week will go into a war chest because we are at war against coronavirus,” he said.

“People who know me know I don’t like the limelight but now is not the time to hide in the shadows."

The father-of-six made the decision despite seeing an estimated 50 per cent wiped off his own fortune in the past month by the economic crash caused by Covid-19 but said it wasn’t important compared to the humanitarian crisis the world was facing.

He added: “I grew up in some pretty tough areas of Liverpool and changed schools nine times but worked hard, set up Redrow and got lucky. I never forgot my roots, which is why I set up the Steve Morgan Foundation in 2001 to help people who weren’t as fortunate as me.

“The Foundation has a small team, but we support hundreds of charities in our region and it’s these charities and, more importantly, the people they help that are going to be the hardest hit by coronavirus.

“Aside from the obvious difficulties that the charities are facing, supporting thousands of disadvantaged people, this crisis has already caused substantial cashflow issues. Normal day-to-day fundraising efforts that the charities undertake have been pulled from under them. The London Marathon alone puts around £65m into the charitable sector.

Mr Morgan said the Foundation has already had more than 50 of its supported charities approach it for desperately needed funding.

"We are only at the beginning of this crisis," he said.

"One of our charities, in just one day, had 248 additional people register for their foodbank.

“As the economy shrinks it will be the charities and the vulnerable people who suffer first and we can’t allow that to happen.

“At times like these it’s right that people turn to our politicians to take the lead, but entrepreneurs like myself can help. We can’t stand idly by and do nothing.

"We wish we could help the whole of the UK but we can’t. Our Foundation is committed to helping charities in Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales and we’ll continue to do that. We urge others across the UK to follow suit.”

Mr Morgan said the Foundation is working on Government advice that this critical phase could last for around 12 weeks. There was however no fixed time limit on this additional pledge to emergency fund local charities.

“Nobody knows how long the coronavirus will last but it won’t be a quick-fix,” he said.

“The key is we have to respond now and get over the immediate crisis. That’s when we should review it.

“Sadly, we don’t have all the answers. We won’t be able to fund every application, but we can make a difference. We have to make a difference.”