Ballardblog.com

I don’t see as many of the Real Change vendors on the streets as I did last month, I can only hope they have found a warmer place to stand. Maybe you have seen them – individuals on street corners, often looking like someone with too much hardship in their life. They have newspapers which boldly proclaim Real Change and they’d like to sell you one for a dollar. I’ve bought two of the papers to date and thoroughly enjoyed each of them. They are quality literature, and not just from my uninformed perspective, Real Change has been the recipient of many literary awards. The plan behind the paper is simple, people may purchase papers from a Real Change distributor for 35 cents, then they resell them for $1 and keep all of the profits. Each vendor I purchased from stood and talked to me about everything from politics, to homeless housing, to dog walking. The vendors I have encountered are people in the homeless or low income portions of the population and view Real Change not just as a way to make a bit of money, but as a way to inform the public of their situation and warn them that the fall into poverty isn’t as difficult as one might think.

Valid Real Change vendors wear name tags which they must have visible at all times, one of the women I talked to informed me that this is how they remove bad apples from the organization. So if you see someone, with their badge and paper I urge you to consider purchasing one. It helps out an individual and it’s a great read, I bought my second paper from a vendor right here in Ballard but you’ll find many more of them downtown. Visit the website to learn more.