My personal motto is: “Don’t let anyone say you can’t, when you truly will. Empower yourself instead!
I am John B., or “Slim,” a new Street Sense vendor. Here’s the story of what brought me to Street Sense.
I have resided in the Washington, DC area almost all my life. I hailing from New York state originally, via New Jersey. I came to the suburban Maryland/DC area at age 9 due to my parents’ permanent job transfer. They worked in the private/government related sectors.
But fate came upon me in the recent past. Finding independent housing has been a futile effort, due to very great barriers and obstacles in the nature of “legal circumstances.” These were bestowed upon me very, very truly unjustifiably, during travel in another area of the US. I am working to rectify such matters now, and perhaps I can elaborate more on this in the future.
My mental health states have hindered me from more “traditional” forms of employment. Therefore, finding and coming to Street Sense has become a real godsend. It is a job program that has a low-barrier to be accepted into the program. That is just exactly, what I needed! I was able to train as a new vendor very quickly.
I have high hopes about making the very best of my involvement here. I hope and plan to, as much as possible, partake of many if not all the available active facets of the newspaper program, and also work with the local college and university interns, as well as the community mentors.
I want to deeply thank those individuals of the local general public who have graciously donated and/or bought the newspaper from me since I started as a vendor-trainee. I do encourage all the Washington, DC area citizens to follow my progress, either in the newspaper or by asking me personally when you see me selling papers. I am truly hoping for a promising, great return, and I wish you the best in your own personal financial efforts.
Lastly, I do plan to write more regularly in the paper. Please look forward to my contributions. I am very excited about some fresh ideas. I do hope and think that you will as well! I very much appreciate your personal monetary donations and the street-level personal interactions. I’ve met some great and quite giving people out there! With your continued support, I will help this important program in Washington, DC grow stronger every day. Please consider that too. Thank you, again, so very much. Sincerely, John B.
PS: Have a pleasant and productive day, week, month, and even year! See you all very soon! 🙂
