Jake, Ivory and Goodbye to Rita

Job for Jake

Congratulations are in order for Jake Ashford, a veteran vendor of Street Sense, who has landed a job at Insight Global in Chantilly, Va. After a long and trying search, he will finally be starting full-time employment. He will be helping out with warehouse shipping and receiving. He is excited to finally get into a work routine, and would like to thank all his customers for supporting him over the years. Even though he will be working 40 hours, he still plans on selling Street Sense at his favorite spot at Whole Foods on P Street.

Ivory the Writer

Ivory Wilson, a Street Sense vendor of six months, has caught the writing bug and is now writing about three stories a week for Street Sense. The first of his many stories, the coming-of-age short story "Black and White," ran in the last issue and this current issue includes the exciting thriller "Don’t Answer the Phone." Others in the works include "Black Cowboy," "The Fat Rat Under Union Station," and "Stacy from Malibu." He has also recently written several poems including an ode to his customers at 7 and E streets, NW.

Street Sense is publishing a piece of Ivory’s fiction each issue, but he is well ahead of the game already. After self-publishing his first full-length book, "A Player’s World," he is looking for a person or company to help publish his short stories in a compilation or someone to help him flesh out one of the stories into a full-length book.

The Heat is On

With the terribly hot weather in the past few weeks, please be mindful of the vendors that have to be out in the heat in order to earn an income. They do their best to find a shady spot and dress in lightweight clothes, but anything you as customers could do to help them stay cool would be much appreciated. The occasional bottle of water or cold drink is always welcome, as are a simple hand fan or sweat towel.

Goodbye Rita

And all of us here at Street Sense would like to thank Rita Monjardino, an office volunteer at Street Sense for the last eight months, and wish her the best of luck as she heads back to her home in London. Not only was she a top-notch office volunteer on the dreaded Monday morning shift, but she was also the voice of vendor Martin Walker’s girlfriend on the first few episodes of StreetSense TV.

As she cannot continue to lend her voice to StreeSense TV once back in London, Martin conveniently dumps Rita for another woman in episode four. But we here at Street Sense will never dump Rita and will always welcome her back!

--- LAURA