Disney sent out an email blast boasting of its ‘giving spirit’ and efforts to support food banks – two days after cutting off wages to its 100,000 theme park employees while holding onto $1.5billion to pay dividends to shareholders and executives.
In the email, which was sent on Tuesday and was entitled ‘Supporting Our Community in a Time of Need’, the company said it had sent ‘646,000 pounds of food to provide 538,600 meals for families in need’ close to its Florida theme park.
It claimed it had handed out ‘36,800 N95 face masks, 160 boxes of gloves and 600 bottles of hand sanitizers to healthcare and support groups working to protect at-risk populations’ and trumpeted its donation of plastic ponchos to healthcare workers.
The email added: ‘With so many of our friends, family and neighbors remaining courageous, we are inspired to continue our giving spirit which is such a part of our Disney culture.’
But for cast members working at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, ‘Disney culture’ has proved less lucrative – with some saying they are trying to eke out final pay checks worth as little as $400 until their unemployment cash arrives.
Disney stopped paying 100,000 employees this week as its parks and hotels around the world remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the company is protecting executive bonuses and dividends, which have totaled $1.5 billion
Disney sent out an email Tuesday boasting about its ‘giving spirit’ and said it had sent ‘646,000 pounds of food to provide 538,600 meals for families in need’ close to its Florida theme park
DailyMail.com saw over 1,200 cars lining up for food handouts organized by the Orange County Food Bank outside a branch of IKEA in Costa Mesa – just 15 miles from California’s Disneyland
Food banks in the area have told DailyMail.com they are ‘bracing’ for a surge in demand and are being forced to spend up to $340,000 a week on supplies. Pictured are volunteers in Costa Mesa
Food banks in the area have told DailyMail.com they are ‘bracing’ for a surge in demand and are being forced to spend up to $340,000 a week on supplies, risking their own financial health.
Cast members said they found out about the furlough from social media and have had little contact from the company.
A furlough letter seen by DailyMail.com lays bare the impersonal process – with the employee addressed as ‘dear cast member’ rather than being named.
One such letter was sent to Billy Fovall, 23, who bussed tables at Disneyland for a weekly pay check of just over $400 for four years.
He has no income until his first unemployment check arrives and says he feels let down by the entertainment behemoth.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, he said: ‘Honestly, it’s aggravating. We know they have the money to pay us and I don’t understand why they treat their employees this way.
‘I don’t think they’re trying to do a lot for their cast members. They do a lot for their executives, they don’t do a lot for the people that do a lot of the grunt work.
‘We’re the people who are on the frontline making people’s experiences magical and we’re just not treated in a very magical way.’
Fovall said many of his colleagues are struggling and having difficulties applying for unemployment – the result being another spike in demand for food banks.
Billy Fovall, 23, bussed tables at Disneyland for a weekly pay check of just over $400 for four years. He was furloughed by the company and says he has no income until his first unemployment check arrives
One Disney worker at the food bank, who asked not to be identified for fear of losing her job, said the decision not to pay had left her struggling to make ends meet
Cast members said they found out about the furlough from social media and have had little contact from the company, with some turning up the drive up food bank in Costa Mesa, California
Harald Herrmann, the charity’s CEO, said he is expecting more than 5,000 cars to turn up at another drive-up food bank planned for Saturday and is ‘bracing’ for an uptick in demand due to Disney’s decision to stop paying workers
George Garcia, 68, said he and his wife Pamela, also 68, had been at the food bank in the IKEA parking lot since 7am and hoped to get some groceries after running out of cash for the month with 10 days to go
Furloughed Disney employee Fovall said many of his colleagues are struggling and having difficulties applying for unemployment – the result being a spike in demand for food banks. Pictured are food bank volunteers
On Thursday morning, DailyMail.com saw over 1,200 cars lining up for food handouts laid on by the Orange County Food Bank outside a branch of IKEA in Costa Mesa – just 15 miles from ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’.
One Disney worker, who asked not to be identified for fear of losing her job, said the decision not to pay had left her struggling to make ends meet.
The mother-of-one said: ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get by now. I’ve applied for unemployment but I don’t know when that will come.
‘This food means I’ll at least have some groceries. I don’t know how I’ll buy diapers or pay the rent next month.’
Others said they had been lining up for hours to make sure they would get a box of canned goods and a bag of pineapple and onions before supplies ran out.
George Garcia, 68, said he and his wife Pamela, also 68, had been there since 7am and hoped to get some groceries after running out of cash for the month with 10 days to go.
Garcia said: ‘We’ve been here since 7am. We come from Garden Grove and we came down here because she [Pamela] got a message on her iPhone that this was happening.
‘We got here at 7am because we knew it would be a big line. We had to get here early.’
He added: ‘We just have barely enough to pay the rent. It doesn’t leave us a lot of money for food and this is helpful, very helpful.
‘It’s a choice: shall we pay bills or shall we get the food? We pay our bills and when we have anything else, we get the food. But I’m out – I’m out until next month so I just feel blessed to have people around us who will give me this.’
Disney heiress Abigail Disney launched a fiery Twitter thread on Tuesday in which she condemned the compensation received by company executives and said the company ‘must do better’
Disney hit out at the company’s decision to pay out on dividends and bonuses
On Tuesday, Disney heir Abigail Disney slammed the company for furloughing workers while still expecting to pay out the $1.5billion in executive bonuses and dividends.
The Emmy award-winning film-maker and millionaire criticized Walt Disney Co. in an extensive Twitter thread, accusing them of ‘terrible management’ and saying they ‘must do better’.
The heiress, 60, argued that this money could pay for three months’ salary to its frontline workers now feeling the financial impact of the pandemic.
Abigail Disney is the granddaughter of Walt Disney. Co. co-founder Roy Disney but does not hold a role in the company.
‘This company must do better. Disney faces a rough couple of years, to be sure. The challenges are existential, even. But that does not constitute permission to continue pillaging and rampaging by management,’ she said.
Disney finished her criticism by calling on the company ‘to lead’, stating they were ‘the biggest, most exceptional, most iconic guy in town’ and should take ‘an opportunity to change’.
Meanwhile, another drive-in food distribution has been planned for Saturday by Second Harvest Food Bank Orange County at the city’s Honda Stadium – ordinarily the home of the Anaheim Angels baseball team.
Harald Herrmann, the charity’s CEO, said he is expecting more than 5,000 cars to turn up and is ‘bracing’ for an uptick in demand due to Disney’s decision to stop paying.
He told DailyMail.com: ‘Obviously, we’re bracing. We’ve been bracing for these big layoffs. We know we’re going to have Disney employees in our lines.
Food bank CEO Herrmann says the extra demand has come with a cost – a $340,000 additional bill for food that has left him worried about the future
Another drive-in food distribution has been planned for Saturday by Second Harvest Food Bank Orange County at the city’s Honda Stadium – ordinarily the home of the Anaheim Angels baseball team
Herrmann says his food bank’s finances are coping for now and will benefit from government help but admits to being worried about how long they can continue to work in ‘crisis mode’
Herrmann told DailyMail.com: ‘I hope we’re not going to be doing this in December but the likelihood is there will be an elevated unemployment rate in December
‘Luckily, those Disney employees have healthcare. It’s horrific to see what’s happening in the community, whether it’s Disney or a small independent local business down the street where they’ve been forced to lay people off.
‘When you have something that’s so high touch point, high cash and it’s so dependent on groups of people – that’s a tough space to be in right now.’
In Florida – where Disney has boasted of sending leftover food to the Orlando branch of Second Harvest – things have become so bad furloughed employees have had to start their own food pantry via Facebook.
Called Cast Member Pantry, it was set up by furloughed Walt Disney World staffer Emily Lartigue and has drummed up $2,000-worth of food donations so far.
Speaking to Click Orlando, she said: ‘To be able to give back to them and to help out our fellow cast is really special.
‘Please don’t be embarrassed or ashamed. Know that you are definitely not the only one out there who needs some help right now and that’s why we’re here, that’s why we were created, and you have fellow cast members that are going to have your back and we’re here to support you.’
Herrmann says the extra demand has come with a cost – a $340,000 additional bill for food that has left him worried about the future.
His team have modeled projected unemployment for the rest of the year and expect demand to still be higher than average come December.
He says his food bank’s finances are coping for now and will benefit from Federal help but admits to being worried about how long they can continue to work in ‘crisis mode’.
Herrmann’s team have modeled projected unemployment for the rest of the year and expect demand to still be higher than average come December
Herrmann said: ‘I hope we’re not going to be doing this in December but the likelihood is there will be an elevated unemployment rate in December.
‘We might not be in this crisis mode that we’re in today but there will still be an elevated need. Between now and then, we’ll pivot the organization based on what’s available to us.
‘Yes, I worry about revenues starting to decline in the months ahead and we’ll have to manage accordingly.’
For Fovall and his colleagues, the challenge is how to get through the next few months until the parks reopen.
He said: ‘I honestly don’t know how I’m going to manage. I’ve applied for unemployment and I’m not going to hear anything back for a very long time – I know that much.
‘It’s not just me. I know a lot of cast members are having a hard time even applying for unemployment so it’s going to be tough.’