City worker who lost job due to coronavirus says she is ‘now poor’ and relying on foodbanks

A City worker who lost her job due to coronavirus says she is ‘now poor’ with just £30 a month left after mortgage payments. 

Under the pseudonym Alice, the woman revealed how she used to shop at Waitrose and Marks and Spencer but was forced to seek out food banks.

‘I was used to having extra money being able to save being able to do my shopping at Waitrose, Marks and Spencer and then all of a sudden going from that to not earning anything – you’re now effectively poor,’ she told the BBC’s Today show on Radio 4.

Before heading out to the foodbank, she had tried to ignore the hunger she felt surviving on two meals a day by listening to podcasts.

‘I would have a bowl of porridge in the morning and then I would have for lunch a bowl of homemade soup, sometimes a couple of slices of toast that was it,’ she said. ‘It was a very, very poor diet – I was constantly hungry.’

She was terrified of going to pick up free food parcels for fear that she would be perceived.

Alice said that the mere thought of visiting the charity gave her heart palpitations as she feared that the volunteers would question why somebody who sounds and looks affluent needed their vital services.

She was relieved when the volunteers came to her aid without any question, as foodbanks now expect people who were previously well-off to be visiting due to coronavirus job losses.

But she said that she’s still too scared to tell her friends and family that she’s relying on charity or to ask for their help, which is why she is using a fake name.

She said: ‘Admitting it to friends and family? Well I haven’t. They know that I’m not working but when they do ask me if I’m doing okay, I say I’m absolutely fine. I should perhaps be more honest and say “well actually, now you mention it”. But you don’t.’ 

James Quale from North Paddington foodbank told the show that they are stretched beyond what they ever could have imagined and have increased home deliveries by thousands of per cent in just two weeks. 

He stressed that nobody who is in need, no matter their background, should feel worried about using the service. 

• Have YOU had to seek out foodbanks? Email [email protected] 

From libretto to Lidl! Opera singer, 27, swaps the stage for shelf-stacking to make ends meet after theatres close for coronavirus lockdown

By Vanessa Allen for the Daily Mail 

She is used to more dramatic and less physical roles in front of an enraptured audience. 

But opera singer Lara Rebekah Harvey has had to swap the stage for shelf-stacking at Lidl. 

The 27-year-old is one of thousands of performers left in the lurch when the coronavirus crisis closed theatres. 

The mezzo soprano had also just secured a coveted role as a soloist with Opera Holland Park in west London. 

But for the last three weeks, she has been working in Lidl stores and warehouses, earning about £9 an hour. ‘It couldn’t be more different,’ she said. 

‘My first week was exhausting because it’s very physical and there’s a lot of heavy lifting.  But I feel lucky to have a job. 

‘Some colleagues there do know I’m an opera singer and I think they are quite surprised.

‘But although I’m grateful, I can’t wait to get back to opera.’ 

Miss Harvey has performed around the country and was a soloist at the Royal Albert Hall in London in the 2016 Mountbatten Festival of Music.