Nearly 10,000 vendors in 34 countries sell street papers, including Street Roots. Feb. 4-10 is the International Network of Street Papers’ Vendor Week (#VendorWeek), celebrating vendors’ work in the street paper movement. Here are just a few of their stories.
Wanda Boudrie
Toledo Streets | Toledo, Ohio
Wanda Boudrie, a vendor for Toledo, Ohio-based street paper Toledo Streets, was recently named its Vendor of the Year. I met Wanda in July 2016, just a few weeks after I’d joined the Toledo Streets team. I was scrambling to get a grip on just how this street paper thing was working here in Toledo, and Wanda rolled in, interested in giving it a try, too.
She engaged with me and the program fully and soon became a familiar and welcome face at our weekly business meetings, which she rarely – if ever – misses.
In short order, she became an essential part of the team. For instance, she coordinates sales hours among the vendors who work at the downtown Bureau of Motor Vehicles, as well as at MudHens and Walleye games – the minor league baseball, and professional hockey, teams based in Toledo. She also cultivated an excellent rapport with staff and customers at Black Kite Coffee.
I’ve found her to be patient, kind and wise. It’s a rare thing for her to lose her cool under pressure, and on several occasions, she defused vendor conflicts before they were elevated. She makes my job easier, and for that I am grateful.
A lifelong resident of the Toledo area, she found herself living on the streets after a bad marriage, and she spent five years living in shelters. She’s been in her own apartment for four years or so now.
“Selling the paper helps to make ends meet, and gets me out of the house. I like meeting new people,” Wanda said.
Wanda is an insulin-dependent diabetic, a condition that cost her both her legs. But if you get to know her, you’d think she never missed a step. Recently she was finally fitted with prosthetic legs, and she is now working through some health issues and physical therapy to reduce dependence on her wheelchair. She constantly reminds us of the new boots she intends to purchase for dancing.
When asked about a philosophy she lives by, Wanda’s came down to: “Be polite and treat everyone with respect. ‘Thank you’ or ‘God Bless You’ doesn’t cost a thing.”
– John Keegan, Toledo Streets publications director
Courtesy of Toledo Streets / INSP.ngo
STREET ROOTS VENDOR PROFILES: Meet our vendors
Street Roots is an award-winning, nonprofit, weekly newspaper focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. Our newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Learn more about Street Roots
