Vendor Spotlight

Derek makes connections through ‘The Contributor’

BY HANNAH HERNER

Derek L. really misses The Contributor’s bi-weekly paper release meetings.

Before COVID-19, vendors would crowd into the Downtown Presbyterian Church’s Fellowship Hall and share a meal while hearing announcements, getting an overview of the new issue and just chatting amongst themselves. With his chipper demeanor and extroverted nature, he thrives in that kind of environment.

Derek has sold The Contributor on and off for the last eight and a half years, with no favorite selling spot. The youngest of four, Derek describes himself as a “trans-continental kid,” having moved often because of his father’s military career growing up.

He graduated high school in Florida a year and a half early because he took summer classes, saying he didn’t have anything to do in the summer anyway. Soon after, he entered the Army and served for four and a half years as a communications specialist. His military career ended when his father fell ill with cancer and he received a hardship discharge. For a time, they worked together in his father’s woodshop, building picnic tables and swingsets to take to the local flea market. When that got to be too much for his father, his parents moved to Portland, Tenn., from Florida. Derek later joined them.

“When dad really started getting sick, I just had to come up,” he says. “Dad’s been gone for 11 and a half years now and it still hurts because that was my best friend, someone I could actually open up to, talk to.”

His father’s death led Derek to a difficult path.

“When dad passed away, I kinda fell apart,” Derek says. “Then I moved here to Nashville. I divorced my wife. When things really started getting hard, my mom moved back to Florida with my sister and I stayed here, lost my job and ended up on the streets. I was homeless.”

He graduated from a program at the Nashville Rescue Mission, and got a job that earned him enough money to stay in motel rooms. While he was at the Mission, he had a chance meeting with his nephew, now fellow vendor David E. The two have stuck together ever since.

A few months ago, David’s disability check had a snafu, and Derek lost his parttime work. They had to sleep outside. It’s important to the pair to keep track of resources available to those experiencing homelessness and reach out for help when they need it.

“The Contributor is a reach out program, to me. It started getting cold and we said ‘please help us, please help us, find some place, do something,’” Derek says. “Next thing you know David is talking to [office manager Tom Wills], Tom is telling us about the Salvation Army, and they put us up at an extended stay.”

Derek also looks for opportunities to help others in a similar situation to him. He’s used his own money to help people get IDs and referred many to the paper. Recently, he even ran across someone he had helped in the past, this time as a customer on his corner. He recognized Derek and told him he now had a house, wife, job and truck. He gave Derek $100.

“You want to know what I consider The Contributor? Family. You get to meet people, talk to people. Like wow, that’s what I love,” Derek says. “I get out there and meet people and I love it. The Contributor helps me do that. It gives me confidence.”

Next, his case worker at The Salvation Army has a couple of more permanent housing options for him and David to consider in January.

Staying at that extended stay through money provided by the CARES Act and arranged by The Salvation Army and The Contributor, Derek actually gets back some of the community he was so missing from those paper release meetings. His neighbor in the room over is a Contributor vendor, too, and they talk during smoke breaks. Derek says he’s not great at names, but he will remember someone by their badge number. Turns out Derek had referred that vendor to the paper to being with.

“If I wasn’t with The Contributor, I would have never found this. I would have still been on the streets. God Bless The Contributor, that’s all I can tell you.” he laughs. “It’s just that family feeling.”