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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 2017)
Street Roots • August 4-10, 2017 O p in io n Page 3 Partnering with faith community opens doors for vendors t’s hot out there this summer. Your support of Street Roots vendors and others is very much appreciated. If you know someone that may benefit from a check-in this summer — don’t hesitate to do your part. Maybe that’s an elder or a friend or someone you see on the streets. It s times like these when we can come together as a community and help DIRECTOR one another. DESK Things you can do to help: By Israel Bayer Keep up to date with the latest information on cooling centers and tips for staying cool in Multnomah County at multco.us/help-when-its-hot. If you see a vendor struggling, don’t hesitate to check in with them. You can always call our office at 503.228.5657 with questions or concerns. Don’t be afraid to make conversation and offer up some cold water when making your latest purchase of Street Roots. At Street Roots, we have expanded drop- in hours, keeping the office open for vendors to access air conditioning during hot days. We also offer vendors cold water, snacks and sunscreen to help keep people hydrated and protected from the blazing sun. Readers can visit streetroots.org to order important in-kind donations for vendors from our Amazon wishlist. Speaking of supporting vendors, since I Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach h im at israel@streetroots. org or follow h im on Twitter @israelbayer. M arch , S tre e t R o o ts h a s b e e n p a rtn e rin g with local c o m m u n ities of faith to h o s t vendors so they can sell newspapers to parishioners after services and during coffee hour. Each church that has partnered with us has welcomed the vendor into their community for coffee, conversation and the option to worship. The idea behind the program was to increase sales and readership of Street Roots on Sunday mornings to parishes with a social-justice focus. In doing so, the hope is to bring greater awareness of the important, award-winning journalism Street Roots covers on a weekly basis, and to bring individual vendors into the church community, creating a connection that surpasses social and class differences. “I enjoy the partnership with Westminster Presbyterian Church because it is a very peaceful way to sell Street Roots,” says Street Roots vendor Lori Lematta. “The church and the congregation really care about the community and are generous and kind to me. I also get the added benefit of an hour of worship before working.” As of this week, Street Roots formalized a partnership with the following churches: Portland Mennonite Church (35th Avenue and Main Street), St. David of Wales Episcopal Church (28th Avenue and Harrison Street), Waverly Heights Congregational UCC (33rd Avenue and Woodward Street), Westminster Presbyterian Church (16th Avenue and Hancock Street), Grace Memorial Episcopal Church (17th Avenue and Weidler Street), Rose City Park Presbyterian Church (45th Avenue and Hancock Street), and Portland First Unitarian (Southwest Main Street, downtown). “The partnerships we’ve been developing with local communities of faith, while still new, are already transforming the lives of our vendors,” says Cole Merkel, Street Roots’ vendor program director. “Vendors are not only getting the opportunity to sell more papers and make more income on a Sunday morning - which historically is one of the slowest days of the week for sales - th e y are, m o re im p o rtan tly , building c o m m u n ity a n d d e e p r e la tio n s h ip s w ith t h e parishioners at those churches.” Street Roots 211 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org www.news.streeiroots.org Hours: 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. S at and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun. Interested in advertising in Street Roots? Contact Israel Bayer at israel@streetroots.org Staff Executive Director Israel Bayer israel@streetroots.org Executive Edstsr Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org Vendor Program Director Cole Merkel cole@streetroots.org Any c o m m u n ities of faith th a t a re in te re s te d in ex p lo rin g a p a rtn e rs h ip w ith S tr e e t R o o ts sh o u ld c o n ta c t C ole M e rk e l a t Program Assistant cole@streetroots.org, 503-228-5657. Jesuit Volunteer Operations D irector Sarah Beecroft Development D irector Sarah Cloud M eghann Van Pelt, Development Assistant Patricia Romero E d ito r ia l A s s is ta n t Monica Kwasnik R e p o rte rs Emily Green, Suzanne Zalokar, Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Jared Paben, Amanda Waldroupe, Stephen Quirke P h o to g ra p h e rs Diego Diaz, Joe Glode, Arkady Brown C a n v a s s e r Desmond Hardison Board of Directors C h a irm a n Brad Taylor V ic e -C h a irm a n Rachel Langford T r e a s u r e r Heather Stadick S e c re ta ry Dan Jones D ir e c to r s Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Nets Johnson and Alison Hallett Volunteers Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore, Zoe Klingmann, Dan Jones, Dennis Hogan, Monica McKune, Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Jason Cohen, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Diana Richardson, Paul and Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne Joyce, Del Shawn Davidson, Gillian Floren, Mark OIDani, Bianca Butler, Alex Cherin, Jenny Farres, Evan Firsick, Camber Hansen-Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry Brannan, Megan Smith, Luke Scheuermann, Annie Aube, Helen Hill, Mark Brown, Lily Krai, Mary Emerson, Adam Bruns, Brooke Anderson and Megan Pickerel-Winer. If you're interested in volunteering Street Roots vendor Lori Lematta. L o n sells the newspaper on Sundays at Westminster Presbyterian Church. with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can call for more information at 503-228-5657.
