Street Roots • July 8-14, 2016
Page 3
Editorial
Summer is here, and filled with possibilities
■IHteh
II you would like
to have
ummer is a time of simple pleasures,
and Portland is loaded with them.
On the street, summer presents a
new set of challenges for our vendors. But it
also comes with new opportunities.
Experienced vendors are familiar with the
cycle. Summertime means regular customers
go on vacation, replaced by tourists who
know little about Street
Roots or what the
vendor is doing day-in,
¿ay-out, outside their
favorite store. Sales can
be a challenge for some, a boon for others.
There’s also a lot happening on our streets
these days. Petitioners and salesmen, and the
summer wave of young adults who travel
through each year. It’s hot out there, too.
Street Roots keeps water on hand at the
office and encourages all vendors to stay
hydrated and screened. But there will be sun
out for the next four months now, and it’s
only getting hotter.
Of course, summer is also filled with new
possibilities.
We’re working with summer events such
as Sunday Parkways to bring vendors more
sales opportunities and reach people who
might not normally have access to a vendor.
We’re also connecting with houses of faith
to have vendors available on days of service.
Summer means schools are out, and kids
are out as well. Children may be meeting a
vendor for the first time. For us, it’s an
important meeting between generations, over
an issue so important to both of their lives.
S
EDITORIAL
Summer is a time when some vendors
secure seasonal work and move onward and
upward. It’s a time when new people come
through our door looking for work because
all other doors have closed. You might be
seeing a few new faces out there in the
coming weeks.
In the bigger picture, Street Roots is
looking forward to a summer of real solution
based dialogue around the issues facing
Portlanders in poverty and homelessness.
The momentum has been building, and this
year we now have a convergence of funding
options, political will and business and
community partnerships to move the ball
forward.
There are a lot of different directions this
momentum can go, and it’s great to be
talking about what we can do today - and
what we can accomplish for a better
tomorrow. Our time is always better spent
exploring a new potential, rather than
chasing our tails around the obstacles we
have planted.
Summer is a time when we look forward,
and be present So do our vendors. Kenneth
Snider looks forward to selling outside the
Starbucks on MLK Jr. Boulevard and Weidler
Street He knows customers rely on him
being there every morning.
“I’m part of their morning routine,” he
says with a smile. “They get their coffee and
buy a paper.” •
Simple pleasures, indeed.
something
that you've
written published ’
in our pages, or would
like to get involved as a
member of our reporting staff,
contact Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl at
503-228-5657, joanne@streetroots.org.
We ask toat all submissions include the
author’s name ami contact information,
if available.
Street Roots
211 NW Davis St
. .
3
Portland, OR 97209
503-228 5657
www.streetmotsorg
www.news.streetroots.org
Hours:7 30 a.m -3 p.m. Morvftl, 7:30
a.m.-2p.m. Sat. and 730-11 a.m. Sun.
Advertising!
interested i n advertisi ng । n Street Roots? I. I
Contact Israel Bayer atisra^streetroots.org
Staff
Executive Director Israel Bayer
israeîSstreetiootsorç
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl
panneQstreeVootsorg
Vendor Program Director Cote Merkel
g cole@streetroots.org |
Operations Director Sarah Beecroft
Development Director Sarah Chud
Program Assistant Scott Jackson, Jesuit
gl/olunteef
Development Assistant Ann-Derrick
®aillot
Reporters Emily Green, Suzanne Zalokar,
Ann-Derrick Gaillot, Sarah Hansell, Leonora
Ko, Jared Paben, Amanda Waldroupe
Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Gtode,
i Ben Brink
Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasnik
Canvasser Desmond Hardison
Board of Directors
Chairman Brad Taylor
Vice-Chairman Rachel Langford
Treasurer Heather Stadick
Secretary Amber Bielman
Directors Bruce Alderson, Rich Rodgers,
Michael Anderson, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon,
Marcus Swift
Volunteers
From left to right, vendors Daniel Cox, Raymond Thornton, Cynthia Grubb, Allen Bennett and Mark Soine pause for a quwk shot before
heading out to their sales locations.
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Stephanie
Holum, Anjali Rathore, Zoe Klingmann, Haven
Herrin, Dan Jones, Rob Shyrock, Dennis Hogan,
Tom Wright, Eileen Deerdock, Vince Waldman,
Judy Taylor, Karen Allen, Monica McKune,
Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell
Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Yasmin Amirsoleymani,
Jason Cohen, Tom Ray, Doug Spangle,
Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Hilary Smith,
Diana Richardson, Cherie Manning
If you are interested in volunteering with Street
Roots, please submit a volunteer application at
streetroots.org/volunteer. Or call our
volunteer coordinator for more information
at 503-228-5657.