Fidel was on a mission to change his life — he’s doing it well Fidel has been working on a writing project for the past year, something like an exposé about Portland’s fentanyl market. His vision: to follow five people who have been buying, using, selling ...
15 Nov 2023 - Robin Havenick
T.J. thrives on meaningful conversations It was a late August day when T.J., 29, first met a Street Roots vendor in Pioneer Square, only a few months after he had left his job in health care. At that point, T.J. had been staying with the Portland Mission ...
1 Nov 2023 - Bruno Crolla
Vendor RP values the kindness of others and building relationships by selling the newspaper He was named after a police officer in California, Roy, but most folks call him RP. Though he’s not known as “RSP,” RP will tell you “Safety is my middle name,” wi ...
25 Oct 2023 - Robin Havenick
Cloud believes any time you can help someone else, you should Josaiah “Cloud” Naylor has been selling Street Roots on and off for 15 years. “It’s my favorite newspaper, of course,” Cloud said. “I recently submitted my first two poems. I was encouraged by ...
25 Oct 2023 - Joe Vance
Vendor Mischief hopes to put art out into the world Mischief and her little brother grew up in a small town outside Fort Wayne, Indiana, called Churubusco. For a while, they lived with their mother before she passed away. For the remainder of their childh ...
6 Oct 2023 - Bruno Crolla
Raven is an artist who hopes to one day sell her artwork Street Roots vendor Raven Thickett often carries her sketch pad and colored pencils to turn her words into pictures. Raven first came to Street Roots 11 years ago after moving from Ashland and has s ...
27 Sep 2023 - Meg Eberle
Maddy is writing a novel and hopes to break into the publishing world Maddy Brown-Clark calls herself a starving writer. Maddy learned to read early, at age four. The magic of books sparked her imagination and allowed her creativity to pour through. “I st ...
23 Aug 2023 - Emily Emanuel
Vendor Gary finds joy in socializing with others in his community Gary Serventi is a self-described “wandering vendor.” Gary likes to be on the move and doesn’t have just one vendor post. He has sold newspapers for Street Roots the past five years as he m ...
16 Aug 2023 - Meg Eberle
Frankie enjoys roles where he can socialize and interact with people in the community Frankie was known in Yamhill County as the “Pop Can Man.” That was some 25 years ago when Frankie lived in McMinnville and had his own business collecting cans at homes ...
9 Aug 2023 - Robin Havenick
Joshua finds camaraderie in being a vendor How do you tell the story of life on the streets? How do you tell the story of those who are homeless, those who develop deadly addictions with no support, those who are on the very lowest rungs of our society an ...
2 Aug 2023 - Robin Havenick