Street Roots • Nov. 17-23, 2017
O p in io n
Page 3
No matter the obstacles, Street Roots changes lives
s many of you know my time at Street
Roots is winding down. I have only
three and half weeks left in the office
before I hand over the leadership of the
organization to Kaia Sand (See page 7).
It’s more than surreal. I’ve spent most of
my adult life, 15 years, married to the street
newspaper movement
and homeless
advocacy, and most
W S W ftl
likely will continue to
DESK
do so after taking a
short break this
B y Israel Bayer
winter and spring.
1
Many supporters
have asked if there’s
going to be a fund set up in my name that
people can give to this holiday season. I have
to admit, it’s a little funky for me to think
about. It’s never been me to use my own
work as the reason for why people should
give money to Street Roots.
The truth is I never expected to be an
executive director or a leader in the
community. I started at Street Roots as a
volunteer and poetry editor, then become
the office manager and eventually would be
ask to be the executive director.
Prior to my time at Street Roots I was a
convenient store clerk at 7-11 and Peterson’s
downtown and worked in retail at the
William Temple Thrift Store. I have a
lOth-grade education and have never made
more money than I make today, which by
industry standards isn’t a lot.
A
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach h im a t
israel@streetroots. org
or follow h im on
Twitter @israelbayer.
I ’v e n e v e r r e a lly c a r e d a b o u t c lim b in g a
political ladder, running for office or who
was talking what behind my back. What I’ve
cared about first and foremost is trying to
make Street Roots the best it could be and
helping create the political will to give
people a safe place to call home.
I’ve made mistakes. Gone down roads that
I’ve had to turn around, fell on my face and
failed, and had to rethink the way I’ve
approached the work on more than one
occasion. Saying that, I’ve also been a part
of many things I’m proud of and have had
many great mentors and friends along the
way. Without them I’d have been totally lost.
Thank you!
At the end of the day, giving a donation in
my name is less about me and more about
the people that we serve.
It’s about the people that have died long
before their time. Kevin Hull. Birdman.
Scarface. Ted Jack. Nick Gefroh. Bruce
Heino. The list goes on.
It’s about the people who have overcome
great odds and have found a safe place to
call home. Richard Falconer. Art Garcia.
Louis Adams. Jim Dienes. Hundreds more.
It’s about the people that are currently
surviving the hell that is homelessness.
I often say that Street Roots is a small
train that carries a heavy load in the
community. What we all are most proud of at
Street Roots is being able to deliver a
professional newspaper every single week to
more than 160 human beings improving
their quality of life.
Street Roots has never been about one
person. It’s been about a collective group of
people all moving in the same direction with
an idea that no matter what obstacles we
faced, we would do the work to give people
opportunities and create some social change
along the way.
So, yes, I am asking you to give a donation
to Street Roots this year through the
Willamette Week GivelGuide (giveguide.org)
or online at Street Roots (streetroots.org).
You can also mail in donations to Street
Roots at 211 NW Davis St., Portland, OR
97209.
If you’d like to give a donation in my
n am e, p le a se do. M o re th a n an y th in g I h o p e
you give a d o n atio n to s u p p o rt th e w ork
maintaining quality journalism and giving
people on the streets a voice. I hope you
give for the many people that have come
before us, some of which aren’t with us
anymore, and some that are thriving. I ask
you to give a donation because giving to
Street Roots is about believing in humanity
at a time when it feels like there’s not a lot
to believe in.
I appreciate all of the readers and
supporters that have made my time at Street
Roots an experience of a lifetime, but more
than anything I appreciate you believing in
something bigger than ourselves.
Big love!
Hours: 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.-FrL, 7:30
a.m.-2 p.m. S at and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun.
E xecu tive D ir e c to r Israel Bayer
E x ecu tive E d ito r Joanne Zuhl
joanne@streefroots.org
V e n d o r P ro g ra m D ir e c to r Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
S & n i & r S tL a ffT
E m ily ( fr e e r )
Operations D ire c to r S a ra h B e e c r o ft
P ro g ra m A s s is ta n t Caelin M iltko, Jesuit
Volunteer
V e n d o r A s s is ta n t Scott Jackson, Alex
Gillow-Wiles
Rosemary Wilson
E d ito ria l P ro d u c e r Monica Kwasnik
R e p o rte rs Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Emilly
Prado, Jared Paben, Amanda Waldroupe,
Stephen Quirke, Helen Hill
P h o to g ra p h e rs Diego Diaz, Arkady Brown
C a n v a s s e r Desmond Hardison
Development A s s is ta n t
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 re r Heather Stadick
S e c re ta ry Dan Jones
D ir e c to r s Michael Anderson, Sandra Hahn,
John Brown, Nels Johnson and Alison Hallett
Volunteers
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore,
Zoe Kiingmann, Dan Jones, Dennis Hogan, Monica
McKune, Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas
Buell Jr., 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, Helen Hill, Lily
Krai, Mary Emerson, Brooke Anderson, Kathleen
McFall, Robb Hengerer, Bronwyn Miles, Maile Yeats-
Rowe, Erin Parsons, Bridget Brown and Megan
Pickerel-Winer. If you're interested in volunteering
Israel Bayer, left,
with vendor David
Boston.
with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer
application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can
call for more information at 503-228-5657.