Melissa Hansen’s roots run deep in the Pacific Northwest. She has spent time in Troutdale, Portland, Seattle and Alaska. After living for 20 years in Alaska, she settled in Seattle because her maternal grandparents lived there, and she needed to establish herself to set up her Social Security benefits. She was homeless and was looking for opportunities when she found Street Roots’ sister paper in Seattle, Real Change. When she moved back down to Portland, where her father lives, a friend connected her to Street Roots. She has been a vendor with Street Roots for several years.
“I love the people, the staff, my clients. I just love talking to people out on the street. Street Roots is just like a family — Kaia, Andrew and DeVon — they are all great and make me feel at home,” Melissa said.
Although Melissa’s optimism is infectious, she acknowledges that her life has been tough. She suffers from neuropathy in her feet and had toes amputated, which makes it hard to stand on the corner to sell papers. A childhood accident when she was a toddler at a Troutdale farm, where her mother raised Arabian horses, also left her with some lasting medical issues. She’s currently living in a tent, surviving, but that has taken a toll on her health. In the new year, she’s looking forward to getting her health back.
And she wants to have a better year than 2020.
“It’s been a hard road for me, but I’m a survivor,” she said. “You’ve just gotta roll with the punches.”
And she’s survived 2020. She wants her customers to know just how much she has missed them, and that she’s back and wants to see them. She misses the connections with her regular customers terribly.
“One gentleman came up to my corner one day. He wanted to ask one question: What do you think about the world today?” Melissa said. “I said that I wished the world were a little bit better and that people were a little bit kinder. People are just on edge. He asked me to put my forehead against his and said a little prayer, and then asked me to close my eyes and put out my hand. When I opened it, he had placed $200 in my palm. I carry that experience because it told me that there are such good people out there.”
But for Melissa, generosity is a two-way street.
“I look to pay it forward every day. Even with the people who have done me wrong,” Melissa said.
And she’s eager to see her customers return. “I miss talking to them,” she said.
Melissa has several favorite spots to sell Street Roots, but she can frequently be found selling papers at Northwest 23rd Avenue and Westover Street, at Sisters of the Road café in Old Town, or at the Lincoln Street United Methodist Church at Southeast 52nd Avenue and Lincoln Street.
