The gingerbread house that Vern built resides on the Street Roots office counter next to where vendors buy newspapers each day for a quarter each.
The walls are joined with white icing, the roof thatched with gummy candy, the ridge dotted with blue, green and purple M&Ms. At the peak of the roof, Vern affixed a gargoyle of sorts – a gingerbread dog.
This is the first gingerbread house Vern has ever built. And I’ll tell you how he came to build it.
Until this year, Vern rarely left the block where the Street Roots office is located. He was homeless on that block since 1988, Vern explained to me, and then moved into the Musolf Manor apartments above the Street Roots office in 2013.
“It’s a good block,” Vern said.
It’s his safe place, so he didn’t branch out to other places in the city. But when Vendor Program Manager DeVon Pouncey suggested that he sell at the Trader Joe’s on Northwest Glisan Street, he was willing to give it a try. He began to leave the block.
And this is because of all of you, Street Roots readers. The support you show vendors creates that strong safety net. Now, selling Street Roots at his Trader Joe’s post is “the best thing that’s happened in a long time. Besides finding my brother.”
“I used to never leave my block unless I absolutely had to, and now I’m off my block five days a week.” The social interaction, he explained, is good for his health.
People bring Vern coffee, treats – and bananas.
“People always hand me bananas because they are only 19 cents each. Which is a really good deal for bananas.” He had a banana tucked into his chair that someone handed him before I walked up, he said.
One woman came by the other day with a bowl of homemade lamb stew.
“She comes by all the time, actually,” he said. “She buys the paper once a week.”
And then there are the two sisters who sell tamales on Fridays. He realized quickly that they weren’t in competition.
“If someone’s after a tamale, they are after a tamale,” Vern explained. “If they are after the paper, they are after the paper. We are two totally different things.”
And, best-case scenario, sometimes people pair buying a Street Roots newspaper with a tamale, Vern said. (A pretty great combo, I’ll add.)
Early on, the sisters invited Vern to sit with them. They sometimes pass Vern a bag of tamales.
“They are awesome,” Vern said. “They are my support. We are each other’s support.”
As I stand talking with Vern, he interacts with customers and store staff, helping figure out who left a poinsettia in a woman’s cart.
Which brings me back to the story of the gingerbread house. When Vern saw customers bring out kits to make gingerbread houses, his interest was piqued.
“I just have always liked gingerbread. And I see all these people coming out with the gingerbread house kits. So I had to get one. So I bought one and put it together in, like, five minutes! You know the little plastic bag you put frosting in for decorating cakes? You cut the little hole in the end. The gingerbread was already made, and it’s got the slots, and you fill the slots with frosting.”
When Vern finished his first gingerbread house, he wanted it to go to Street Roots. That’s where he has a sense of family.
“We share experiences,” he explained of his camaraderie with other vendors. He comes in every morning at 7:30 to have his coffee and chat with his friend Jon, another vendor. He stays for about 45 minutes. It’s his morning ritual that gets him ready for the day.
And he checks on the gingerbread house every morning.
“There’s only been one gummy candy that’s been pulled off – and that was by me!”
I asked Vern if he planned on making a gingerbread house next year.
“I will probably make three or four next year,” he said.
And this is what you are supporting when you support Street Roots. You are supporting this means for earning an income: People can walk in off the streets, go through orientation, and start selling the paper while forming a community. You are supporting us to produce our newspaper every week with original, sometimes groundbreaking journalism – because we are committed to creating an excellent product for vendors to sell.
And you are supporting this larger enterprise that allows vendors to branch out and form new relationships that offer health, stability and new possibilities – like making a gingerbread house for the first time.
Please consider making a year-end contribution to support us online, or by using the envelope stapled in the Dec. 20-26 issue of Street Roots.
And thank you!
Director's Desk is written by Kaia Sand, the executive director of Street Roots. You can reach her at kaia@streetroots.org. Follow her on Twitter @mkaiasand.