Street Roots vendor Belinda Estermeyer greets customers in front of Stumptown Coffee on Northwest Third Avenue with a broad smile wearing one of her signature blue caps from her cap collection, all blue, her favorite color.
This post is new for Belinda, who recently moved from a longtime downtown spot farther south. Business slowed at her long-time post after many employees started working from home in post-COVID days.
“I had people buying papers from the government buildings, but a lot of them don’t come in these days,” she said. “Business went down big time after COVID shut us down for two years. It takes a while to build your business back up. Once people see you, they start coming by again.”
Belinda started as a Street Roots vendor about six years ago with her long-time friend and co-vendor Karen Fleming. Belinda and Karen have supported each other for many years.
“We aren’t blood sisters, but we are sisters,” Belinda said. “We take care of each other.”
The pair moved to Portland following a major flood in Houston, Texas and Belinda and Karen were housed in a Portland shelter for about 18 months before they were able to find housing in Old Town at a monthly rent of $931. Several social service agencies and friends helped them outfit the one-bedroom apartment with furniture and bedding.
It hasn’t been easy for Belinda, who is a former Certified Nursing Assistant, or CNA.
“Being a CNA was hard work, and I tore a ligament in my shoulder, so I couldn’t properly transfer anyone,” Belinda said. “So, with that going on, people started hollering that I wasn’t fast enough.”
Belinda, who is now disabled, gets a monthly check from Supplemental Security Income, but she has little left over after paying for rent, electricity and basic food.
Her Street Roots earnings help her have some extras, such as her phone connection which is needed for doctors’ appointments.
“Street Roots has been good for us,” she said.
Belinda often uses a wheelchair, and Karen, who has had several strokes, uses a walker. They feel more vulnerable these days with the increase of fentanyl users in the area, so Belinda sometimes accompanies Karen to her post on Burnside Street.
“I help her when she wants me to,” she said. “If you go outside, you better be with someone else so you don’t get jumped. You can be vulnerable if you are in a wheelchair or walker. There is too much drug use, I hope they fix it back to what it was when we first came here. Having more services for people would help.”
Belinda is looking forward to the opening of the new larger Street Roots headquarters a few blocks from her apartment in the coming months which will provide increased services to vendors such as Wellness Center with laundry, showers and a clothing closet. Vendors will also have access to meeting rooms, coffee and computer stations, a library and a rooftop School in the Sky classroom.
When Belinda is not selling Street Roots, she spends time in her third-floor apartment, reading, using coloring apps on her phone and watching “Walker, Texas Ranger” and “Survivor” on television with her two cats Cassidy and Snow.
You can find Belinda at her post on Southwest Third Avenue and Pine Street or support Belinda through @StreetRoots Venmo by entering her name and badge number (126).
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This article appears in June 5, 2024.