A RHYL philanthropist and businessman’ campaign to support charities through Covid-19 has now helped over one million people.

Steve Morgan, founder of the Steve Morgan Foundation, has made more than 400 awards to frontline charities in Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales in the first eight weeks of the Covid-19 Emergency Fund.

Over £4million of the £5m committed in March has been paid out and the founder of housebuilder Redrow and former owner of Wolverhampton Wanderers is also locked in talks to fund a significant £3m Covid-19 medical trial.

Mr Morgan, who was born in Liverpool but raised in Rhyl, said he was ‘stunned’ at reaching the one million people milestone but insisted the work was far from over.

“I’m speechless that we’ve been able to help one million people in just eight weeks but I think it highlights the size of the need out there,” he said.

“We are working with some fantastic partner charities who are able to make sure that the right help gets to the right people at the right time.

“Had we done nothing my concern was the most vulnerable people in society would have suffered the biggest hardship.”

The one million people helped have faced a wide range of problems including homelessness, food poverty, mental health, social isolation and bereavement with awards varying from a few hundred pounds to £150,000.

The North Wales Emergency Doctor Service (NWEDS) were able to recruit and equip two new paramedics after being awarded £30,000 by the Steve Morgan Foundation.

Dr Bryn Ellis, a specialist registrar in anaesthesia and a volunteer with NWEDS, said: “The funding received from the Steve Morgan Foundation has enabled the North Wales Emergency Doctor Service to equip its responders to help support the Welsh Ambulance Service during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Mr Morgan added: “A lot of the charities would have closed if they’d had to wait six months for funding so we paid the money into the accounts in a couple of days. Over the course of the first seven weeks we’ve seen the number of applications reduce from 165 in week one to just 34 last week but that’s to be expected.”

Morgan said the Foundation was carrying out an ongoing review of its Covid-19 campaign before deciding what to do next.

“It’s a such a fluid situation and it’s changing all the time,” he said. “This is the first phase. One thing I’m concerned about is people’s mental health and what the impact of Covid-19 and a sustained period of isolation will be.”

Charities seeking emergency funding can visit tfaforms.com/4811567.