Day 147
On the Big Issue website you can calculate your hourly pay and donate an hour to the Big Issue Foundation. I did this this evening as I have seen the impact of their amazing work!
The Big Issue Foundation is a charity that works with Big Issue vendors to 'give them a hand up, not a hand out' while the vendors are selling the Big Issue magazine in the UK. The team work with vendors to help them plan a way forward in their lives and achieve their aspirations. For many vendors this will require being linked in with local services, which the Foundation encourages and supports them to do. I work very closely with the Big Issue as a homeless outreach worker and gain referrals as well as referring people in.
The team have access to a 'vendor support fund' which is sourced through donations from the public. This fund helps clients access things that we all take for granted. Vendors save 20% of the cost of an item they want and then with their worker they apply to the vendor support fund for the remaining 80%. There are some amazing examples of things that can be bought that will definitely help a vendor on their journey for example: a passport, equipment to start a business, materials to set up a home, course fees for a college course, driving lessons and so much more. The fund literally changes lives.
Winston Churchill once said,
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
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