Judy Graves photo by Christine McAvoy. The City of Vancouver’s sole advocate for the homeless, Judy Graves, retired May 29, 2013. To commemorate her decades spent working to connect homeless people with housing, Judy’s colleagues at the city compiled a book featuring writing, artwork, and remembrances by the wide circle...

"Selling Megaphone has helped me build my confidence and made me feel proud of myself. I like selling the magazine because I can get out of the apartment and do something I really love. And I like talking and interacting with my clients and people on the street. 

Since the year 2000, Vince has been daily fixture at the Granville Island Public Market, selling street newspapers in the laneway outside the JJ Bean coffee shop. He’s a familiar face in the market community, and he seems to have struck up friendly acquaintances with just about everyone who regularly...

"I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Downtown Eastsider. I was born here, went to school at Strathcona and my daughter went there, too. I spent a lot of time in the penal system, in New Westminster and in the Valley, but aside from that, the Downtown Eastside has always been my home. My...

"I sold papers in Calgary before and I did well there, so I thought I’d give it a shot here in Vancouver. I also sold papers in Toronto years ago.

"I was raised in Boston Bar. I went to college in Kamloops, which was just a small community too, so there wasn’t much opportunity for work. I took a carpentry course up there and then I moved to Vancouver.

"I grew up in Manitoba. I lived in Ontario. In the early ’80s, there were no jobs where I lived back east. I came out west and worked in mills. We moved the whole family out here. When we first came out, we lived in Port Coquitlam. And then we...

"Selling Megaphone has helped me build my confidence and made me feel proud of myself. I like selling the magazine because I can get out of the apartment and do something I really love. And I like talking and interacting with my clients and people on the street.   

  Megaphone is just one of 122 publications in 40 countries that comprise the International Network of Street Papers (INSP). We were deeply saddened to receive news that two vendors who sold the London, UK-based The Big Issue were senselessly murdered earlier this month. Wayne Lee Busst and Ian Watson-Gladwish...

This holiday season I have much to be thankful for. I want to thank the residents of Cambie Village who buy Megaphone and Hope in Shadows calendars for their support this past year.