Vendor Harry Richards got his apartment keys this past week and has moved inside. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Street Roots!” Harry said. “Through my own hard work, I’m back inside! Street Roots supported me and kept me in papers when I had hard time ...
17 Sep 2015 - Street Roots Staff
“I started selling newspapers. I felt that I had a purpose in life, that dying was not a good idea.” Billy Meyer has lost family members, but he has found a new family. His first family adopted him when he and his twin sister were 3 days old. “I grew up ...
3 Sep 2015 - Leonora Ko
Jermaine Johnson likes living in a place that has low crime and no hurricanes. He lived through Hurricane Katrina, with his home knocked off its foundation, alligators in the streets, and a local man robbed and shot for his shoes. When Jermaine moved to S ...
27 Mar 2015 - Leonora Ko
Vendor profile: Andie Howard For Andie Howard, a day vending for Street Roots is a whole lot more than selling papers. It’s a starting place, the first step to creating positive change in the community and in her own life as well. “I’m very proud of Stree ...
3 Mar 2015 - Aaron von Reyn
Chances are, if you’ve been out to St. Johns on the weekends, you’ve run into Aileen or Charles at their selling spots two blocks apart on North Lombard. Whether it’s a soggy Saturday farmers’ market or a lazy, sunny Sunday, you’ll be greeted by the warmt ...
18 Feb 2015 - Aaron von Reyn
On a cold, spitting December afternoon Paul Ortiz walks from the food carts at Southwest Third Avenue and Stark Street back to the Street Roots office to check his mail and pick up more papers. He moves with long strides but keeps his head up to scan Thir ...
7 Jan 2015 - Sam Bouman
Allison Strange came to Portland to leave behind the old memories of her son, whom she lost to cancer, and to be with her boyfriend. She came looking for a fresh start in a new place. And that’s exactly what she found at Street Roots. “A better one than I ...
31 Dec 2014 - Sarah Hansell
Paulette Bade started selling Street Roots in Portland to fill the days in between her nights at the shelter. She experienced homelessness for the first time this year. But her reason for continuing — at least one of them — is a little different now that ...
6 Dec 2014 - Sarah Hansell
After being in and out of homelessness since age 26, Justin Harris finally had some steady housing in Portland through Transition Projects. But when his brother Bryan left their hometown in the Yakima Valley to join him, he moved back to the streets. “I w ...
20 Oct 2014 - Sarah Hansell
The first thing I notice about Betty Jo Griffiths is more than just her immediate smiling personality or her kindness. It’s the joyful calm of her spirit. So much so that I forget what questions I have planned to ask that day. Betty Jo’s youngest child ha ...
24 Sep 2014 - Sarah Hansell