In the early morning hours of September 19th, something extraordinary happened. Two working people — both of whom experienced despair, invisibility and absence of opportunity before finding community, purpose and a path to personal success — were recognized as 2017 Real Change Vendors of the Year.
About 500 supporters rose to their feet at the Washington State Convention Center as vendors Donald Morehead and Jen Tibbits accepted their awards.
Vendor of the Year isn’t about numbers of papers sold. It’s about becoming one’s best self, and creating success out of the sort of adversity that would flatten most of us.
It’s about the community. And it’s about the love.
Being a Real Change vendor is a heroic act. Each year there are hundreds of people who come to the vendor orientation, take a shot at selling the paper and decide it’s not for them. Being successful at Real Change takes grit, determination, commitment and planning.
And for those we recognize each year as the best of the best, it takes an explicit commitment to community. It takes rising above oneself to put the interests of others first.
Jen Tibbits, who sells at the Ballard Starbucks at 22nd and Market, grew up in the foster care system and never finished ninth grade. She was homeless on and off from ages 12 to 29.
For much of her life, Jen was defined by her lack. Poor. Uneducated. Disabled. Homeless.
Real Change gave Jen the opportunity to be defined by what she is: creative, caring, community-driven and determined.
Real Change gave Jen the opportunity to be defined by what she is: creative, caring, community-driven and determined. Feisty
During the time Jen has been at Real Change, she was elected twice by her peers as a vendor representative. She has helped with events as a Real Change intern and helped lead the organization as a member of the Vendor Advisory Board.
Jen, like all of us, is much more than her work. She has built her own crafts business, called Jen’s Arts. She practices archery and has friends and community in the Society for Creative Anachronism. She is a whole person, living in the light of possibility.
Donald is similarly inspiring. When Donald arrived in Seattle 17 years ago, he was homeless, PTSD from a life of poverty and despair and living alone in a tent dug into a Queen Anne hillside.
Like Jen, Donald doesn’t just “sell” the paper. He has forged a more whole version of himself from the experience.
“It’s Real Change, not chump change,” Donald says. “It’ll change your mind. It’ll change your story. It’ll even give you glory. Read the story. Real Change!”
“It’s Real Change, not chump change,” Donald says. “It’ll change your mind. It’ll change your story. It’ll even give you glory. Read the story. Real Change!”
Now Donald is more than four years sober and runs the Real Change vendor orientation. While Donald’s disability still keeps him from regular work, he has found the means to give back.
“God done blessed me so that I’m in the shape I’m in now. I can see out and see where I came from. I don’t look down on people.
“I know what it takes to get off the streets and get a roof over your head. A lot of guys out there is dealing with mental problems. I was dealing with mental problems. And didn’t know it. I was self-medicating myself. I can show them and tell them how to do it.”
Real Change, it is often stated, is “a hand up, not a hand out.” But we are much more than that.
Real Change, it is often stated, is “a hand up, not a hand out.” But we are much more than that. People like Donald and Jen don’t just ask, “How can I be successful?” They ask, “What can I do for others?”
How can I put a smile on someone’s face? How can I extend myself to give back? How can I work every day to build the kind of world that I want to live in?
Last month more than 500 people celebrated these vendors and the organization that makes their work possible. Real Change raised more than $152,000 through the annual breakfast to support vendors like Donald, Jen and the more than 300 other homeless or very low-income people who sell this newspaper each month.
Jen and Donald are Real Change heroes. And so are all of you who make our work possible. We, and each of our vendors, are more inspired and grateful than you can imagine.
Tim Harris is the founding Director Real Change and has been active as a poor people’s organizer for more than two decades. Prior to moving to Seattle in 1994, Harris founded the Spare Change homeless newspaper in Boston in 1992 while working as Executive Director of Boston Jobs with Peace.
Wait, there's more. Check out articles in the full October 4, 2017 issue.
Real Change is reader supported. Just $5 a month provides work for more than 300 active vendors and keeps community journalism strong.