Vendor Spotlight

HELEN LOVES ALABAMA FOOTBALL, A GOOD SCARY FILM AND SELLING ‘THE CONTRIBUTOR’

STORY AND PHOTO BY HANNAH HERNER

If you want to strike up a conversation with Contributor vendor Helen M., a good place to start is Alabama football. She loves the team so much, she got a tattoo to pay homage on her left upper arm.

Or she’s open to a scary movie recommendation.

“It’s got to be real suspenseful, you never know what’s going to happen next,” she says.

Cabin in the Woods is one that passed the test.

Helen can be found selling the paper in a few different spots in North Nashville and Downtown, and has been selling regularly since the fall of 2020.

She’s originally from Rochester, New York, and moved down to Spring Hill with her family when she was 13 years old, so her dad could work at the Saturn car manufacturing plant. Since then, she’s lived in rural areas of the state, like Maury County, Giles County and Marshall County.

When a relationship she was in didn’t pan out, she had her brother bring her to Nashville Rescue Mission women’s campus. After staying there for a year, she began to work in the kitchen there and got her own Urban Housing Solutions affordable apartment.

“I’ve been on both sides of the table there,” she said of the Nashville Rescue Mission.

When her rent was raised from $411 to $545, presumably in line with how much she was working, she couldn’t afford it anymore. So she let it go and started staying with friends.

It was at Nashville Rescue Mission that she met her current roommate, a fellow graduate of the organization, and the pair are currently in the process of moving into a house. She’s also roommates with one big dog and one small one — A Great Pyrenees and a Chihuahua-Jack Russel mix. At the new house, there will be a fenced in yard for them.

“We’re both so excited it’s not even funny,” Helen says.

When she’s not selling the paper, Helen works special events for a local restaurant. Over the years, she’s worked in food and retail, and she worked for Goodwill for 10 years.

With The Contributor, she gets more autonomy than other jobs she’s had.

“There’s nothing to it to me, I’ve had jobs where I’ve had to stand on my feet 12 hours straight in one spot,” she says.

It works for Helen, because she’s not shy and she loves being outside — something formed from her experiences camping growing up. Plus, she likes the excitement of never knowing who is going to pull up next. One memorable time, it was a Tennessee Titans player.

“I love selling it. I get to see different people, watch the world go by while I’m standing out there with it. You never know who is going to pull up with a large tip,” Helen says.