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.