Jennifer was born in Perth Amboy, N.J.
“I had a good growing up,” she said. “I was daddy’s little girl. We fished together, and worked on cars.”
Jennifer came to Oregon with her first husband in 2000. She has two sons, Jacob and JP.
She enjoyed her career working at the now-shuttered SAFES, the Salvation Army Female Emergency Shelter, as a residential assistant. Her job was to help clients and families fill out forms, apply for apartments, find shelter and jobs.
“I did shelter work for some years. I also worked on call at Human Solutions Winter Family Shelter, and at Jean’s Place. I still see people I helped back then, and they still thank me,” she said. Jennifer also worked in home health care for a time, assisting a bedridden quadriplegic.
Three years ago, Jennifer’s life changed drastically when she had a stroke. The stroke left her with impaired speech, and one of her legs had to be amputated because of poor circulation.
“I couldn’t work anymore,” she said. “I became homeless, and I had to go to the hospital for attempted suicide and depression.”
After a terrible experience in adult foster care, Jennifer eventually got into an apartment, which she has shared with her older son for the past year.
“My disability and his income help pay the bills, but I miss working. I love to work, I need to work. Then I found Street Roots,” she said.
“The only job I can have now is Street Roots, but it gives me lots of things. It gives me a purpose to get up every day. Even on the days when sales are slow, it’s OK because I can still talk to people. It builds relationships I wouldn’t have had. If I wasn’t selling Street Roots, I’d be home all the time with nothing to do.”
Jennifer has had to learn how to manage life from a wheelchair, but she is rising to the challenge.
“I go everywhere by myself. People don’t know how I do all the things I can do,” she said. She is waiting for insurance to approve a new prosthetic leg so she can walk again.
“They are fighting me, but I need it. There is one step I have to go up at my apartment. Just one step to go in my house, but I have to get down on my knees, and crawl over and pull the wheel chair up the step.”
Jennifer doesn’t let her disability define her.
“It won’t keep me from doing things I want to do,” she said. “I like to go to concerts and things, but without Street Roots, I don’t have extra money to do special things, and if I want to buy something for my son, there’s no way to get it.
“I set goals and try to sell so many papers,” she said. “I find places to sit and sell at street fairs. I try to put my foot forward. Some days I can’t get out of bed because of the stroke, because of the pain, but I do the best I can. I like selling Street Roots.”
Jennifer sells Street Roots Monday through Friday at Bipartisan Café on Southeast Stark Street.