Tag: Big Issue

A handup not a handout

For many years I have been a supporter of the Big Issue magazine. This is for 3 reasons. First I want to support the Vendors. They get half of the sales money. This means they are growing in self-sufficiency and getting the help they need as they move from homelessness into accommodation, the cost of which is a responsibility they need to develop if they are to survive and grow. Perhaps more importantly is the self-esteem and self-respect that they receive through their interaction with others. Perhaps most important of all, they are simply human beings as we all are and sharing a common humanity brings a responsibility of care on all of us.

During our various lock-downs, many in our society have been challenged by real hardship. Such groups of people don’t get a lot of publicity and the homeless are, for some, an inconvenience. Alongside many other socially disadvantaged groups, they have struggled, but also the compassion which I see again and again, mixed with practical concern has brought hope to many.

The Big Issue Foundation was created to funnel that practical help to those in need as well as to campaign in raising awareness on issues surrounding homelessness. But during lockdown it isn’t easy for people like me to find a vendor. Shops like the Co-op stepped in and sold the magazine and one way I could help was to take out a Subscription, which I did. I know that money raised in this way reaches the vendors.
It also feeds the second reason I buy Big Issue. It’s an excellent magazine with a lot of interesting articles.This week’s magazine includes a piece from Jay Blades of the Repair Shop BBC TV programme for example.

It also tells some sad news about Amanda Hill.
Amanda , the first Big Issue Vendor in Cardiff, has died suddenly at the age of 43.
She is typical of many vendors who have been helped but who have also brought joy to others.

Liam Geraghty, writing about her in this week’s magazine speaks of her as a woman with a “heart of good intentions”, who took “took every opportunity offered” in her five-year spell selling the magazine. The Big Issue helped Amanda off the streets and into long-term accommodation.

Lockdown took away her daily contact with people and recently she wrote of looking forward to “seeing the smiley faces of her regular customers”, once lockdown measures ended.
Sales Manager in Cymru, Tom Watts said: “Amanda had her ups and downs in the time we knew her, but we saw her joy in finally getting long-term accommodation near her family in the Valleys and becoming nicely settled on her pitch in Taff’s Well near Pontypridd, getting to know people and looking to build her sales long term as well.
“She bestowed the world with her presence and a heart full of good intentions, and she’ll be missed by her family, her friends, and all of us at The Big Issue in Wales.”
When she began as a Vendor in 2016 she and her then husband slept in a tent which suffered from the winter weather, not least during the 2018 storms known as the Beast from the East. It was difficult to keep dry and maintain body heat.

Amanda featured in the magazine many times over the years and “never turned down the chance to try something different”, according to Watts. He added: “Amanda could chat for hours about anything. She always strove to get what she needed from the world, she took every opportunity offered her, and she never let anything stop her for too long.” She “never turned down the chance to try something different”, according to Watts. He added: “Amanda could chat for hours about anything. She always strove to get what she needed from the world, she took every opportunity offered her, and she never let anything stop her for too long.”
Away from her pitch, Amanda was also a passionate swimmer and represented Cardiff in the sport from the age of 10. She wrote about her experiences for The Big Issue in 2020, giving readers tips on techniques and boosting mental health through the sport. The Big Issue bought Amanda a reconditioned rowing machine to help her exercise while in lockdown as arthritis in her spine and the strain of acting as a carer for her husband meant she was unable to go outside. She said the gesture “really cheered her up”.
Amanda had been in ill health for some time and just last week she revealed that she had been treated in hospital for pneumonia since the new year. She had recently split from her husband of 12 years and was in the process of finding a new place to live near to her children. Despite her health issues and housing troubles, Amanda always remained optimistic and last week praised her customers for supporting her with subscriptions to the magazine during the current lockdown.
In a Vendor’s View article she wrote the week before she died she praised Big Issue frontline staff for “always being there”, adding: “They have been doing so much for me during lockdown. I really want to thank them for the support, the food vouchers and the chats.” She was longing to get back to her pitch to see her customers once again.
In a poignant text following the interview, Amanda summed up why The Big Issue meant so much to her. “I’d like to say it’s built my confidence and with all my problems, if it wasn’t for The Big Issue I probably wouldn’t be here so a big thanks to you all.” Sadly, she is no longer here but Big Issue deserves thanking for all that she both received and ‘Gave.’

The third thing why I like Big Issue is that so many of the Vendors talk to me. I share something of their story and they share something of mine. They are ‘real’ people who relate to me. I’m certain I’m not alone in this.
And nor is Amanda alone now. I love the verse in St. Luke Chapter (V 32) where Jesus says: Do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom”.
Whatever belief Amanda may or may not have had, God’s love for her is unconditional and I pray that she is enjoying the love and completeness and safety of that Heavenly Kingdom and the joy of her heavenly Father’s pleasure.

Lockdowns have taken income away from hundreds of Big Issue sellers. If you are concerned please support The Big Issue and the vendors by signing up for a subscription. Just Google Big Issue Subscription to get the details. It’s simple.

By subscribing to The Big Issue magazine, you are not only keeping up-to-date on the key issues that matter but you are also doing good. As a social enterprise, Big Issue invest every penny made back into the organisation. That means that with every subscription, we are supporting people in poverty to get back on their own two feet. With your support, Big Issue helps vendors to achieve financial stability and overcome social disadvantages holding them back.

[Mr G]

Generosity is infectious!

A little news item in this week’s ‘Big Issue’caught my attention.
A Big Issue vendor called Gary Phillips got a bit behind with the rent and he worried about the impact his arrears would have on his landlord’s finances.
In early July, Gary, aged 45,chose to leave the rented property, his home for 14 months after becoming two-and-a-half months behind on rent.
It was his own choice. He wasn’t thrown out. He said that because of the ‘lockdown’ he couldn’t sell the Big Issue so he thought that it was only fair to his landlord that he left. Landlords have bills to pay too. ‘Some landlords are relying on that money too.’
So Gary went back to living in a tent and sometimes it was difficult because the weather was bad with heavy rain falling.
During lockdown Big Issue had given him money and vouchers. I was very lucky to have that and I wasn’t expecting it.
Gary who had needs of his own put them aside to help his Landlord. That was true generosity of heart.
And it had a surprising result.

He sold the Big Issue outside Sainsbury’s in Saltburn and he was much loved by the locals.
Sue and Corina Nicol heard about what Gary had done and his generosity triggered generosity in others. They set up a GoFundMe on his behalf. He was obviously delighted and thought he might get £100 or so because he was well known in the town but, in the event, the fundraising has so far brought in £1,670. Sue Nicol told the Big Issue, “It shouldn’t have to be done but I wanted to help Gary. The response is what I expected because Saltburn is a wonderful place with supportive and thoughtful people’
One man’s generosity became infectious.

This is one of the many good news stories that are coming out of the Pandemic. We need to hold on to this spirit of generosity at these difficult and dark times.

During the lockdown between March and July, The Big Issue supported 1,665 vendors with more than£500,000 in food vouchers, meter top-ups and other help while they were forced to halt street sales to protect vendors.

You can help them in this work by (a) buying the magazine from your local vendor or (b) from The Co-op, Sainsbury’s, McColl’s and W.H.Smith’s or (c) by taking out a subscription via selectmagazines.co.uk. To receive the magazine each week: bigissue.com/subscribe
It costs £38.99 for 3 months.

Maximum Kindness

In this week’s ‘Big Issue’ magazine, the actor David Tennant is interviewed about his new TV drama ‘Des‘ about the serial killer Dennis Nilsen who killed at least 12 young men in London between 1978 and 1983. Many of his victims were homeless and this has led to David Tennant musing about the conditions of society at the time. He says that it is important to understand Nilsen ‘because it’s important to understand the darkest corners of what a human being can be’.

Some of the issues in the background of Nilsen’s actions were poverty and homelessness and joblessness. People fell through the cracks in society and David Tennant puts forward his opinion that the society in which Nilsen carried out his murderous deeds was an uncaring one.

The political background at the time was the view expressed by the then Prime Minister that there was no such thing as society. It was the age of ‘individualism’ which did so much damage to what our life together means. As Tennant puts it: ‘as long as there is no such thing as society, then we don’t have a collective responsibility for each other’. That’s why Nilsen could get away with what he did for such a long time. In Tennant’s view, Nilsen was able to select his victims because he was preying on people that society had ‘to a greater or lesser extent, turned its back on’. Here lies a warning and, whilst what Nilsen did was a while ago, there are echoes of that time in our own society today. Tennant does not believe that the lessons from the past have been learned.

The social and economic theories at the time emphasised a philosophy which concentrated on self and less on others – what could be expressed as ‘Me, Myself and I’. We paid a big price for the emphasis on individuality. It flew in the face of Christianity which is based on community, holy fellowship and kindness to those in need. Measured against the Gospel it will always be found wanting.

David Tennant sees warning signs as we approach what he believes to be a ‘recession, the likes of which we have never known’ which will ‘expose the flaws in our society.’

That Society must find ways of helping people. He says that ‘we’ve got to be very aware that there are dangers and that there are people who are going to be more vulnerable than they should be in the coming months. We all have to take part in being aware of that. And as a society we have to find ways of providing resources for helping people.’

One of the ways we can tackle this is through kindness to each other. Tennant says: ‘We’ve all got to proceed with maximum kindness in the months to come.’

He adds: ‘This lockdown has been a great leveller. Suddenly everyone’s been in the same boat because you can’t escape a virus by being well off. It brings us all together. And hopefully that allows us all to have a better understanding of the equality of the individual, which in turn allows us just to think with a bit more kindness and understanding than we’ve been famous for as a society up to now.’

Kindness to others is rooted in giving everyone respect and worth – and this brings forth care, concern and love. It must be expressed from the heart and be concerned with equality and mutual acceptance. For the Christian it is also about becoming more Christ-like.

Mother Jane of the Sisters of the Love of God once wrote:

“Jesus teaches us to look at each individual person as unique and to consider the particular circumstances of every case in which a decision has to be made. This is not easy, but each of us can try in the limited sphere of our own little lives not to be pressurized into mass thinking. Instead, we need to remember the friendly greetings, the words of encouragement and sympathy, the small acts of kindness which people exchange a thousand times a day, and most of all in times of trouble, and which are a true measure of the spirit of humankind.”

Devotees of ‘The Archers’ may remember that some time ago now the fictional Vicar of Ambridge preached a sermon at the beginning of Lent in which he suggested that people should give up gossiping for Lent – much needed in Ambridge and doubtless elsewhere! Instead they should take up random acts of kindness.

Our society and our world need these more than ever.

St Paul instructs Christians in Colossians 3: 12:

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

The instruction is very clear.

The Big Issue Magazine is published weekly at a cost of £3.
Of this £1.50 goes to the vendor who are seeking to practice the Big Issue Foundation’s mantra: ‘A Hand up, not a Hand out’.

Vendors are often homeless but all are seeking to earn a legitimate income and gain valuable social and employability skills. Buying the magazine helps to give people self-respect, hope and the ‘hand up’ they need. It’s even better when you can engage them in conversation and show that you care for them as fellow human beings with the same rights that you have.

Vendors are back selling on the street across the country. They are back at the heart of their communities, back earning a living. But life is not back to normal and some vendors with health needs cannot yet return to work. They are being supported by the Big Issue Foundation. Your support is a vital way of helping them.

If you are not able to buy from a vendor then the magazine is available from W H Smith; McColl, the Co-Op and Sainsbury’s. It is also available on subscription £38.99 for 3 months (go to bigissue.com for more details.)

It can also be downloaded from App Store and Google Play