Three former Thomas Cook bosses have called for a renewed fundraising push for Abta LifeLine and predict the charity will need to support people left out of work as a result of the coronavirus.
Former chief executives Chris Rodrigues and John Donaldson and former UK managing director John McEwan spoke to more than 60 guests at Hilton’s DoubleTree hotel in London on Monday.
They thanked those who had helped raise nearly £210,000 since the collapse of Thomas Cook in September last year.
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Rodrigues said the latest ‘Ex-TC Alumni’ event – the first since Cook’s collapse – was “bittersweet”, but said it was important to cherish “treasured memories” at the firm.
McEwan said the LifeLine funds he and Donaldson campaigned for in the wake of the collapse had so far helped 1,300 people and had recently moved to supporting those with more complex needs.
“We haven’t given up on our campaign,” he said. “And with what we’ve seen in the industry with the virus, we expect we will have to help when redundancies hit.”
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