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PEte Pentecost, which distributed the free City AM newspaper to commuters at Bank Station in London’s Square Mile, found itself on leave when the first coronavirus lockdown was declared a year ago. It got worse: after three months he lost his job and finally applied for universal credit, which took seven weeks to arrive.
“We thought we were going to go back in September, but they took all the shelves away; City AM is just online now, ”said Pentecost, who had been doing the work through an agency for six and a half years. “I enjoyed the work, even when it was raining.”
Like others in the area who relied on the passing trade of city workers – from takeout sandwich shop owners to barbers, tailors and dry cleaners – the 64-year-old needed urgent help.
Kim Gray, head of diversity and inclusion at NTT Data, a subsidiary of Japanese telecommunications group NTT, has experienced Pentecost from his daily trip to his office in the financial district before the crisis. “When the pandemic hit, we started working from home,” she said. “It was easy for us, but I thought to myself: I wonder how Pete is doing?”
She was able to find him and they had lunch together, where they came up with the idea of a food bank for struggling service workers and their families, and The City Gives Back initiative was born.
This involves NTT Data funding the expansion of a food bank in Christ Church Spitalfields, near Liverpool Street Station, which was set up by Pastor Brigid Beney early last summer to help local families.
The tech company is keen to expand the food bank, with a particular focus on helping employees in the city’s hotels and stores. He asked the City of London Corporation, the local authority, to help identify those in need.
“The city is just empty and we don’t know if it’s going to come back,” Gray said. “We have a duty of care” to those who struggle, she added.
Church and NTT Data volunteers pack boxes of food on Wednesdays. Every Thursday morning, families collect boxes filled with basic items, including rice, pasta, tea, cooking oil and cereals, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. Diapers and toiletries are also available.
A McDonald’s worker, who declined to be named, has relied on the food bank since July to feed her four children, aged five, seven, 16 and 19. “Before the pandemic, I worked in customer support at McDonald’s in Liverpool Street, ”she said. “At first my hours were reduced, then I was fired. Since then, I have been on leave. We had to cut back on expenses like food for the family.
“The impact [of the pandemic] was unfair because office workers may not have dependent families. They earn a lot more than restaurant or store owners and are still able to make money now, ”she added.
Another woman, who works in finance, said she was at the food bank because she was the only one who was able to keep her job and her salary was not enough to support her children, from her husband, parents and extended family.
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One of the clients of NTT Data, the insurer of Lloyd’s Ascot Group, agreed to help fund the food bank in May, and the tech company is in talks with three other companies in the city to sponsor the bank. food beyond May. The company has also raised £ 10,000 from staff and others since launching its fundraising campaign last month.
Workers in the City of London are the highest paying in the country, with an average income of £ 60,000 in 2017-18, compared to £ 24,000 in the UK, according to figures from HMRC.
Claire Webster, CFO of NTT Data, said: ‘What some families experience each week, £ 14, is what city workers easily spend on their coffee, breakfast and lunches in a day. . “
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