Street roots., January 31, 2014, Page 6, Image 6

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street roots
Jan. 31, 2014
» 11
A Culinary
Fundraiser for
Downtown’s
dynamic duo
on the pitch
Transition
.
;
STAFF W R IT E R
A sk any S treet Roots vendor and you’ll
ZA learn th e re ’s m ore to sèlling th e
X JL p ap er than you may think. Take Sean
Thursday, February 20
6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Urban Studio
,935 NW D s v I s ^ e e t b
T ra n s itio n ^
Projects* ■
BY ANN-DERRICK GAILLOT
Tickets available at S
soupforthesoUlpdx.com
Sheffield and Rebecca M oran, for example.
T he dynamic selling duo dom inates the
, co rn er of Southw est Fifth Avenue and
M ojrison Street, and if frequenters of the
area don’t recognize th e two, they máy
rem em ber hearing them .
Sean and Rebecca
CENTRAL CITY
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jEnding homelessness and
achieving self-sufficiency -
now roasting and distributing
craft coffee.
Available for purchase at:
N ew Seasons M arket
Green Zebra Grocery
Food Front Cooperative Grocery
Chuck's Produce
Call us for oiftc© ooife© aoœuhtà
•'603--78W fe; • '
CENTRAL CITY
CO FFEE
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“As you probably heard last night,” Sean
tells m e, referring to w hen I stopped by his
co rn er th e day before for th e new issue, “F
yell w hen I sell.” And yell Sean does, ,
shouting “S treet Roots, only a dollar!” over
th e din of business as usual downtown. Sean
grins, “She says you can h e ar m e yelling
two blocks aw ay ” Rebecca, on th e o th er
hand, takes an alm ost opposite approach to
selling.
“I’m one of th o se people who will ju st say
hi to everybody as they pass,” says Rebecca.
“And it’s easier to do w hen you don’t have a
crowd of 20 o r 30 people.” And while j
R ebecca adm ires Sean’s selling style, paying
he sounds like an old-fashioned, city paper
peddler, she p re fe rs to stick to h e r own
m ethods. “I really can’t do th e veiling
becausg my voice doesn’t carry like his
does,’’ says Rebecca. “I prefer to ju st say-hi
to the kids and the people walking by,
saying, ‘How’s your day?’”
T he two switch on and off, giving each
o th er breaks before frustration o r fatigue
can get the best of them .
“I’m b e tte r w hen it’s slower. He’s b e tte r
w hen it’s realb u sy ,” Rebecca says. “We’ve
kind of got our tim es, in a sen se.” Rebecca
and Sean have developed?their strategy w ith
Street Roots over the past five m onths and
have established them selves among the
P H O TO BY COLE M ER K EL
m any attractions th e P ioneer Square blocks
have to offer. T he area’s com petition is w hat
first inspired Sean to use his voice to sell
the paper.
“W hen I first started selling the papers I
would ju st stand th e re like everybody else
d o e s and I noticed across m e was a gu itar
player, on th e o th er side was a drum m er,
and across on th e o th e r side w as a bagpipe
playef,” Sean says. He realized he had to be
m ore noticeable. So far, Sean has received •
nothing bu t positive feedback from his
custom ers. “People come up and say, ‘I like
th e way you sell,”’ he says. “So I ju st kind Of
stuck with it.”
Evert off th eir tu rf th e two work as a
team , pooling th eir earnings and saving up
to be able to go out on small dates. “J u s t to
have a sense d f normalcy,” Sean says. “Like
this C hristm as we saved up to get h e r h e r
phone.”
“Ju st th e little things,” adds Rebecca.
Sean, an Arizona native, and Rebecca,
originally from a small town in Wisconsin,
first m e t a y e a r and a half ago’ in Tampa, Fla:
T he two have been inseparable ever since.
S ean and Rebecca moved to Portland w here
Sean could have easier access to resources
and support for his diabetes. M ore than
that, however, they are in love with
Portland. “Everyone’s ju st so friendly h e re /’ ’
says Sean.
-You can catch th e couple on th eir tu rf at
SW Fifth Avenue and M orrison S treet every
day from noon to 6 p.m. And if you can’t ’
re m e m b e rw h e re to find them , ju st head
towards P ioneer Square and; listen for
Sean’s pitch.
VENDOR WORK ADS
Bicycle delivery by Farmer Shaun
Small packages $2/mile
Large packages $5/mile
Extreme feats and impossible tasks on
a case-by-case basis.
Bicycle detailing $25/bike.
Need a worker? Can do almost
anything, light or heavy. References
supplied. $10 an hour, 4-hour min. Ask
for Cassidy Morse, 503-228-5657 (SR
office), or 503-875-6504 (cell).
Answers to puzzles on page 15
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Vendors are regular contributors to Street
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Iftoots’ content, as columnists, poets a n d artists®
I Look fo r your favorite vendor’s writings in
each edition o f the paper.
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