Vendor of the Week: James French

Click "more info" to read about James. Vendor of the Week: June 17-23, 2009 "I've been in construction for 25 years," James tells me. Mostly carpentry. A union carpenter and laborer, James has built a number of big-time projects in the area, with some big-time names: a hangar housing Paul Allen's airplane collection, Fisher Plaza at Seattle Center, Bill Gates Sr.'s Law Library, and the Savery Hall renovation at the University of Washington, to name a few. Now, after enduring debilitating knee pain from severe gout (a disease that causes painful inflammation of the joints), James sells Real Change. Because carrying 40 pounds of tools and kneeling for hours at a time to do formwork just isn't possible. He's not making $1,000 a week anymore, but selling the paper helps him pay for the basics. "I've worked really hard most of my life, so it was really hard for me to sell the paper, to be honest with you," James says. "But I like the conversation and talking with people. Now I'm proud to sell [Real Change] because it has helped me in a forum without limitations, which other situations don't allow a person to do." Now, after a bout of living on the street, James has gotten back into the union, has an RV, and hopes to work as a flagger on construction sites in the near future, a task his knees can tolerate. Of his customers, he says: "I love them all. My customers are great, the conversation's great, and I thank them very much for their support. Without them I would probably be in the situation I was in before I started selling Real Change, which was being borderline desperate and living on the street pushing a grocery cart. So thank you everybody for your support, and God bless you." You can find him selling mornings and evenings outside the Third Ave. and Vine St. Rite Aid in Belltown, so be sure to strike up a conversation and give him your support. -Story and Video by Alex Becker, Real Change Intern and Contributing Writer www.realchangenews.org