IN YOUR OWN WORDS Words from our vendors on their life and times, what they’re thinking and feelings, for their neighbors to know and share. Life Changed for Me When I Found the Denver VOICE! WHEN WE’RE YOUNG, it’s hard to imagine time slipping away from us, but in the blink of an eye, time has moved on. It’s hard for me to believe today that come January, I will have done something for 19 years because that will be the anniversary of when I first started vending the Denver VOICE newspaper. I had no education. I taught myself to read and write at 28. Before then, I only knew letters and vowels, so I learned to read by sounding out words (like when I saw a stop sign and sounded out St-o-p). I was a runaway at 15 years old, traveled all the way across the RAELENE JOHNSON DENVER VOICE VENDOR country, spent most of the next 40 years of my life homeless, never having a home for very long, and ended up on drugs. The longer you’re homeless, the less hope you have, and you can’t believe that you even deserve a good life. Being homeless on the streets, you lose yourself, or people look at you as if you could never do better. Or they’ll turn their heads away from you. You never know if you’ll even make it another day on the streets. You have no hope whatsoever. When no one wants to give you a chance, then you stay stuck in homelessness, helplessness, and uselessness. It’s a hard place to be when you’re in the streets because every single person needs at least one person to lift them up and give them hope. When I found the Denver VOICE, I was homeless, sleeping under a bridge in Boulder. Then, when I stopped by what used to be called Bridge House, there was a sign up on the bulletin board that said, “Be your own boss, work your own hours.” I asked the lady running the center what that meant, and she told me about the Denver VOICE. She explained that the VOICE had rules for vending the paper, but if I followed them, it would be a good opportunity. So, I went to the VOICE, where I signed on as an independent contractor. They gave me 10 free papers and told me once I sold those, I could come back and purchase more. (Vendors pay 50 cents for each paper, and we sell them for $2, keeping 100% of the profit.) In the first three months, I had trouble selling papers, so I asked my heavenly Father: if this was the job I needed to do, could He tell me how to talk to people? Almost 19 years later, I’ve been able to write for the Denver VOICE, which helps me earn additional income because vendors get paid when their writing is published. I was able to get off the streets and off drugs. I rented a room and now have my own home. I wouldn’t have been able to do without the kindness and generosity of the people who are reading this right now, who bought a paper from us vendors, giving us an opportunity to earn an income. It is up to the vendors what they do with the opportunity. I can’t believe I’ve been at the paper as long as I have. My badge number is 42, which means I’ve been there longer than most of the vendors. I’ve worked every single month for all these years. I would be devastated if the VOICE were to close — especially knowing that they tried their best and we couldn’t get any funding to keep the newspapers open. If there is no paper, the vendors can’t work. With government funding and resources so limited, a lot of good organizations like the VOICE are fighting to keep their doors open, too. I hope anyone reading this understands that the number of vendors we have always changes depending on the weather, the pandemic, or the different circumstances each vendor faces. I do not want my life to be a struggle now that I’m in my senior years, doing the paper. This paper has given me hope, confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem. I learned how to believe in myself because the VOICE gave me an opportunity. I tell people I would rather be vending the newspaper than holding up a sign that says, “Anything helps,” or walking up to someone and asking, “You got spare change?” to try to take care of my bills and keep me off the streets. That is what the voice has done for me. Thank you. 12 COLUMN
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