I am the first vendor of Street Sense. We started in November of 2003. At that time, we barely had any vendors. I recall very clearly the first Thanksgiving that we had in 2003.
We organized a dinner for all the vendors, and, believe it or not, I was the only vendor attending. At that time, we struggled to recruit vendors until we eventually started growing.
In January 2004, we had a meeting and brainstormed how to get more vendors involved in the paper. Thankfully, Street Sense survived. I went to a lot of shelters, talked to the people there, listened to their stories, and told them about Street Sense. I did a lot of stories for the paper, and I promoted the paper.
At that time, the paper began to sell, and people started to know Street Sense. There were more and more writers and readers. I helped a lot to make the paper grow, and I am very proud to be the number one vendor.
I can see that Street Sense has grown a lot, and I am happy to see a lot of vendors now. Right now, I work in Boston at another newspaper. I have been involved in homelessness advocacy. I like helping people get off the streets and get into housing.
That is some of my story. I will continue to stand for equal rights for people experiencing homelessness and hope people do the same.
Thank you.
