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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2012)
Street roots 9 Dec. 7, 2012 VENDORS, fro m page 8 well-off among us, where we will be tomorrow, much less a year from now, but the repercussions of a right thing done in a right way will last forever. So thanks to my many many wonderful customers always. God bless and happy holidays! — Ron Sanford and she said, Well, who would sell me my papers? I look forward to seeing you. Life’s not that bad.” And she walked into Fred Meyer and bought me a $30 gift card. That really brightened up my day. She restored my faith in humanity. — Cassidy Morse love my customers and they love me day by day. I sell the paper at the SW 4th and Oak Starbucks and the Southwest Sixth and Stark Street food carts. I’ve made a very big friendship with them Tibor Szjako even with the police. Even they come to buy the paper, they stop me and say hello and ask how I’ve been. — Tibor Szjako have a customer who is a financial adviser and he always stops to talk with me for long periods of time, a really good, decent, Christian guy. He’s told me several times that I’m a good man. Back in July I was having a really bad month and I was way behind on making my rent. He showed up and asked how things were going. I wasn’t trying to hit him up for money or play up his sympathies, I just told him the truth, that for the first time it looked like I wouldn’t make my rent by the first and I was worried about getting a late fee and all that stuff. Two days before the end of the month he donated enough money to pay my rent for me. — Frank Hodges I I f you sell Street Roots for a period of time you remember the face, but can’t always sold a paper to Suzanne Bonamici before remember the name. A familiar face stopped she was elected to the House. She was by to get a paper in a cold November rain. It very nice and she is much shorter in person was dark out and he dropped the bill in the than she is in her TV ads. I am in Earl old candy jar asking how accessible the Blumenauer’s district, but I work in hers, so director of Street Roots was. I said he was it was nice to see her. very easy to talk to and always took time for — John R. Brown everyone. He said he wanted to know somewhere to take the kids in his Sunday school class to handout hygiene kits to the was selling on Broadway and I like to sing homeless. I suggested Potluck in the Park out there. I was in a Shakespeare play and the director would have the contact once, so I was reciting Hamlet loudly in a information for the man who organizes that British accent. And when I was done I said, Sunday event. When he left I pulled the bill “Yes, that was Shakespeare.” About 10 out of the jar before it got too wet and saw it minutes later, a lady came back and said, was a 20 dollar bill. “Yeah, that was Shakespeare. I thought you — Dan Newth were just a crazy guy out there talking.” And she smiled and bought a paper. It was a nice ne customer, moment. who’s become — John Michael Christian one of my favorites, he’s been my customer for a couple of years, we T ast as winter I -L/ne eeded a coat, talk every time he comes to buy a when to my surprise paper. And I told him a gentleman at the my teeth have been Walgreen’s I was hurting and my working at gave me a Raymond insurance doesn’t large Adidas, heavy Thornton cover it, and I’ve got sport-type coat. no choice but to get Everybody then, it dentures soon. It’s very hard to save the seemed wanted to amount of money needed. We’ve talked know if I was from about it a couple of times at length, and he Cincinnati, OH. No, Ron Sanford knows that my daughter’s been sending me I’m not, I’d say a little bit of money so I’ve been squirrelling politely. But thanks for it away slowly. My customer asked me how asking! much it would cost for my dentures, and I Although my coat is very tattered now told him I wasn’t really sure. I think it’s from another 90 percent or so of a homeless going to be up somewhere around $1,000. year since then, I’m now finally in He came back the next day with an envelope temporary housing, where I’m able to have and said he wanted to contribute to the clothing, showers, meals and more! cause, that it’s a good cause, that he There are no guarantees, even for the I I I O couldn’t see me in pain out here every day. He gave me an envelope with $250 in it, and he told me to use it when I was ready. I tried to deny the money right away, said I wasn’t sure if I was ready to do it. That I didn’t want to have it in my possession in case I needed to spend it on something else. He said that if I had to spend it it was probably needed to be spent, and I should use it as my own discretion. He said he believed in me, believed it was a good cause and he wanted to contribute. That action is such a sincere compliment. I’m just the guy on the corner he met two years ago and we became friends through slowly talking. I made a friend. I made an advocate. — Raymond Thornton lost my wallet recently and David Smith, the man who manages the place I’ve been staying while I’m homeless, came up to me after walking all the way down the road to the Starbucks to find me and he told me he was sorry I lost my wallet and handed me 20 bucks and said “I hope this gets you to replace what you lost.” — Darryl Goeas I wish everyone a warm, good Christmas. I hope that everyone stays warm during the holidays and through the winter, and I really appreciate the customers that help out and buy a paper even though they already have one. The regular customers out there who really appreciate the paper, I really appreciate them. — Jason Mitchell I hank you to all the employees at Interstate New Seasons, especially Molly for being so incredibly helpful over the past year. — Steve Hill and his dog Kayla T got $20 the other day and got so excited. I didn’t even know who the guy was, that’s what blew my mind. I just got overly excited about it. I wish I knew who it was, though. I keep wanting to ask people. — Wayne Moore I do extra work for a guy who does ATM machines around town. Last year, he asked me if I wanted to start working for him part time. When I first started working for him, we were out checking machines and he counted out $2,000 and he handed me the money and said he wanted me to double check it. He took off, so I counted it in his rig and there was an extra $100 there, so it was actually $2100, so he was testing me to see if I was going to pocket the money, which I didn’t, of course. And ever since then we’ve been close. I do his house work, whatever he asks me to do. It’s cool. He helps me out a lot. It came from Street Roots. - Jeff McCall lady walked by during my sales pitch and said, “You’re not a Navy veteran.” I I A simply replied, “Ma’am, here is my ID,” to offer proof. She then apologized and said, “God bless your heart, here take the day off,” explaining to me that her whole family was in the service as she Don Grubb handed me a 50 dollar bill. Another time a customer told me he loved Street Roots but was 60 cents short on buying the paper. So I responded, saying, “Well sir, I’m a businessman and I’m not going to refuse you a paper because you only have 40 cents.” I gave him a paper and told him that customers and outstanding customer service is the foundation on which every business should stand. As I proceeded to close the sale and said, “May peace and blessings surround your day.” A few days later he came by and gave me a 20 dollar bill. “Keep up the good work,” he said. — Don Grubb arly last year, a regular customer of mine who never purchases the paper but always gives me a dollar when I see him, complained about the Notre Dame hat that I was wearing. He gave me a Stanford hat right after Andrew Luck was drafted No. 1 in the draft and commented on the fact that Oregon had knocked them out of the national championship game last year. Then this year Stanford went to Oregon and knocked them out of the national championship game and he said I should now be wearing the hat that said, To Gus, #42, John Elway. I think it’s ironic that they both knocked each other out, and now Notre Dame, the hat that he wanted me to get rid of, is now number one in place of Stanford, whose hat he wants me to wear now. — Rick Buck E pe of my O! 'customers, Michael, is a prosecutor. He read my article when I first started and became my regular customer in May. I’ve known him for about six months. He’s a really good guy, and he buys my Earl Bennett paper faithfully. He says he likes a lot of things: the politics of it, the economy of it. He was telling me it’s very informative and you need a newspaper like this for people who do need money in their pocket. He’s a really good man. We’ll converse, he’ll walk his two poodles, he’s a really good guy and he’s one of my favorites. — Earl Bennett Compiled by Cole Merkel TlieTaft H om e A lC lA SOON? SB! Where senior and disabled adults receive the care and respect they deserve. *••7.** BOOK YODIÌ STÄY THROUGH | H 0 T ELS 4 C H ANG E Call us for more information (503)223-2144 YOU SAVE. " ¿ p e i l 'l , if you or te in e » Check out the Hotels4Change link on the Street Roots home page www.streetroots.org 1337 S.W. Washington, Portland, OR 97205 w w w .ta fth o m e .o rg ■ 4
