2020-03-23_The_Big_Issue_UserUpload.Net

23-29 MARCH 2020 BIGISSUE.COM| 13

wenty-nineyearsisalongtimetoholdontoanidea

thatvalueshomelesspeopleasasumofmorethantheir

destitution.Backin 1991 therewasa verystrongfeeling

againstroughsleepersassociallydisruptive.Sofor 29 years

wehavegatheredourselveseveryweektoargueandhelpprovethat the

homelesswereus,withoutthecomfortofpermanenthomes.

Now 29 yearslater,havingknownandmetandworkedwith

thousandsandthousandsofhomelesspeople,TheBigIssueisona

knifeedge.

Hundredsofmillionsoftransactionsbetweenthehomeless

andthegeneralpublicarelikelytobeunderminedif werunoutof

peopletobuythemagazine.Obviouslythevendorsshouldnotbe

onthestreet.Andthepublicshouldnotbeonthestreeteither.

Sothetemporarydeathofthe street could be the permanent death

ofTheBigIssue.

Nosales,nomoney.

Isthereananswer?Thereis:get60,000peopleeachweektobuythe

publicationthroughthewebsitezinio.comtogeta digitalversionofthe

magazine.Verysoonwewillalsohaveanappthatyoucandownloadto

getthemagazineandmore.

Wearedriventodothis.Foreverysalewemake,atleasthalfthe

moneywillgotovendors. Wewilldistributethemoney,going50/50with

thehomelessaswehavedonefordecades.

Ourincrediblypowerful29-year-longmessage,“Ahandupnota

handout”,willhavetobesuspendedforthemoment.Why?Becausethe

vendorswillnotbeabletovend,sowemuststillsupportthem.It’shard

enoughsurvivingbutwewilldoallwecantomakesuretheygetmoney

tosurvivetheviralattack.

Thesearenoteasytimesforanyofus.Butitwouldbea cryingshame

if, a�ter thecrisis hasli�ted,homelesspeopledidn’thave ameansto earn

anhonestliving.

CoincidentallyI wasavailabletostarta streetpaper 29 yearsago

becauseof an earliercrisis.A�ter theGulf War in1991,followingSaddam

Hussein’sinvasionof Kuwaitthepreviousyear, emptyplaneswere �lying

acrosstheAtlanticandmuchbusinessslippedintocrisis.

Therewasa glumnessaround.I wasworkingfora publisherhelping

themwiththeircatalogueprinting,andtheirchequeswerebouncingall

over theplace.Eatingamealone nightwithGordonand AnitaRoddick,

Gordonreturnedto hisfavouritesubject:astreetpaperfor Londonand

beyond.Hehadboughta streetpaperinNewYorkandthoughtitwas

a good ‘crime prevention’ mechanism. But he couldn’t get anyone in the

T

homelessfieldto getbehindit. He

askedme,asa loudex-homeless,

ex-o�fender.And becauseIwas

brokeI tookthechance.Andthe

restishistory.

Adecadelater,ontheverydayof

our10thanniversary,9/11happened.

Whata kickingthatgaveusand

everyoneelse.Desertedstreets,

equallingdesertedpockets.Welost

about 40 percentofourstreetsales.

Butallcrisespaleinto

insignificancebesidethisbigone,

theviralmonsterthatwillbringallof

usintolockdownsoonerorlater.

We hopeyou �lockto usdigitally.

Ourmessageinournewformat

willbepositive.Itwillbeabout

supportingcommunitiesthrough

thiscrisis.Anditwillbeaboutthe

storiesthatresonatethroughoutour

communitiesthatstruggletolook

a�ter themostneedy.

Eighteenmonthsagoin

Northamptonwehada conference

calledSocialEcho.Itwasincredible

andoutofithasgrowna groupof

peopleacrosstheMidlandswho

wanttolinkandstitchtogetherthe

communitiesthatarebeingexposed

bythecoronavirus.

TheprincipalbehindSocialEcho

isthatyoucanworkcloselytogether

tomakethelocalcommunitywork

to thebenefitof all.That we can

learna lotfromhelpingeachother

inthisverysimpleway.

Feeding,providing,befriending,

including:helpingnowsothat

wecangrowthroughthecrisis

andcomeouttheotherendbetter

thanbefore.

Ourmostpreciousassetsarethe

peopleweworkwith.Thatisthe

vendors of The Big Issue. But also

itisthesupportersofourvendors

whobuyTheBigIssue.Weareall

inittogether.Wecanhelpbothour

vendorsandthebodythathelps

themtohelpthemselves.

Look atitanotherway: you would

nevertalkaboutsupportingpatients

inhospitalwithoutrealisingthat

theirwellbeingisdeliveredthrough

theNHS.SoitiswithTheBigIssue.

ThebiggestsupportwecangiveBig

IssuevendorsisforTheBigIssue

toliveanother 29 years;sothatit

canhelpthosemostdesperateto

getmoneyandtocope;andthen

hopefullygrowanddevelop.

Ona daylastweekwhenitwas

gettingblackerbytheminute,I got

a phonecallfromanoldBigIssue

vendor,backfrom 25 yearsago.

Heishavinghealthproblems.He

waswantingtosellTheBigIssue

againbecausehispost-BigIssue

occupationwasnolongerpossible.

I couldn’trecommendgoingout

andsellingTheBigIssuebecause

therewastherewasnoonetosell

to.I couldn’tsuggest,withhishealth

problems,thathemakehimself

morevulnerable.

Wewilldowhatwecan.But

withoutourregularincomethat’s

notpossible.

Pleasebuyonline.Pleasekeep

withus.Andpleasesendusyour

storiesaboutwhat’sgoing on in

your community.

opinion.

THISWEEKJOHNWILLBE

READING:AbelandCainby
Gregorvon Rezzori

WATCHING:TheTroublewith
MaggieCole,ITVdrama with
Dawn French

LISTENINGTO:TheVelvet

UndergroundandNico

FOLLOWING:CarolineLucasMP

assheintroducesa Wellbeing

of FutureGenerationsBill in the

Commons on March 24

JohnBirdisthefounderand

EditorinChiefofTheBig Issue.

@johnbirdswords

linkedin.com/in/

johnbirdswords

[email protected]

JOHN BIRD

We can survive

this. But only

with your help

Backwhereitallbegan

Over 29 yearsTheBigIssuehas

li�tedthousandsoutofpoverty

and become an iconic brand