During the shutdown my profits fell 75 percent. I didn’t see many of my usual customers because a lot are government workers and the shutdown meant they were using money they normally spend buying Street Sense from me to pay for necessities such as food and utilities.
Consequently, I’m having a hard time feeding myself.
I’m also having a hard time finding work because I can’t travel on the bus or the subway to look for other jobs. The shutdown hurt government programs that help homeless people with health problems. I couldn’t wait for it to end.
I know other vendors went through the same thing, so I kept the faith because I didn’t want to be angry at President Trump. But I am very mad at him. Let’s hope he doesn’t make this happen again in a couple weeks.
Dwayne Butler is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.
