Advertisement
News

Gary’s Story

Getting a job has been 4 years in the making since I joined The Big Issue and started to address being homeless; I came to The Big Issue for help and support as I knew I could get my life back on track through being a vendor.

I can’t believe I am handing my tabard in to start a new career, it feels like I have done the biggest achievement in my life. I have had to stick through the cold weather on my pitch, the days when I had to work hard to sell my magazines and also the hard work I had to put in with my corporate pitch in Bournville at Mondelez International the home of Cadbury. Going on the Ready For Work Scheme with Business In The Community and doing my placement at Mondelez gave me a pathway to a door I needed. I had to get my I.D. sorted too, I had a Vendor Support Fund through The Big Issue Foundation to get my passport, and I was also helped with resettlement when I moved in to my new flat.

I am proud to say I have done it my way, through being determined and using all of the skills I have gathered over the years to be able to go to into a new job with my head held high. I want to thank Kelly at Mondelez International, Business in the Community and The Big Issue Foundation for all of their help, but most of all my customers who were then when it rained but were also there when I was on the way up. It has been brilliant.

Gary Johnson, Badge Number 14, used to vend at Moor Street Station In Birmingham.

Our work is entirely voluntarily funded. Please help us to support more vendors and donate here.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

Read All
'Where's the compassion?': Council refuses to give 11-year-old boy his father's ashes after funeral
Funeral poverty

'Where's the compassion?': Council refuses to give 11-year-old boy his father's ashes after funeral

DWP benefit reforms to get people into work are 'smokescreen for cuts', disability activist says
dwp secretary liz kendall
Disability benefits

DWP benefit reforms to get people into work are 'smokescreen for cuts', disability activist says

Ending post-Grenfell cladding crisis could take until 2035 and beyond: 'Unacceptably slow'
Grenfell tower
Cladding crisis

Ending post-Grenfell cladding crisis could take until 2035 and beyond: 'Unacceptably slow'

We've given 50,000 haircuts to homeless people – here's how a simple trim can change everything
Photo of man hugging a woman to illustrate a story about the Haircuts 4 Homeless charity
Homelessness

We've given 50,000 haircuts to homeless people – here's how a simple trim can change everything

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue