Street Roots vendor Jack Van Dyke’s brown “Bike First” T-shirt hints at his ambitions.
“My goal is to be a delivery man on my bike," he said. "Maybe I will start my own thing, Jack’s Bike Delivery.”
Jack started biking as a child on his Huffy bike.
“I had a bike with one pedal," Jack said. "I wasn’t a trickster, but boy, I could go fast.”
Always athletic, Jack carries a plastic driver in his backpack to play disc golf. His love of sports came from his father, a pitching coach who coached Jack’s Little League team. During his youth, Jack always had a ball in his hand and he went on to play football, basketball and baseball in the Oregon coastal town of Newport where he grew up. Jack would like to follow in his dad’s footsteps and coach Little League as well.
“I want to help kids work together, get along together and not beat up each other," he said. "We have to take care of the younger generation; it is going to be running the show.”
Over the years, Jack has worked at a variety of jobs: lawn service, construction, pressure washing and as a handyman. In the early COVID years, he fell into hard times and ended up living on the streets for two years.
“It was so chaotic," he said. "I was not myself, I became disorganized. The streets mess with your head.”
During this period, he heard about Street Roots, attended the vendor orientation and started volunteering, serving coffee and doing other volunteer jobs. Street Roots provided some structure and a place to hang out.
“I want to thank everyone involved in Street Roots and give them all a group hug," he said. "Street Roots is like a big umbrella and it is getting bigger. I think that is cool.”
During his early Street Roots time, he started sleeping at the shelter in the former Greyhound bus station. At the shelter, he met a young outreach worker through Do Good Multnomah, an organization that works with homeless veterans. Jack, like his father, served in the military. He enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was stationed in Germany. He was discharged months before Operation Desert Storm in 1990.
Through Jack’s work with the outreach worker, he received his driver’s license, identification and transit card and he was put on a months-long waiting list for housing. Finally, last July he was placed in Findley Commons, which houses homeless veterans in transition in Southeast Portland in a redeveloped parking lot space at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. His quarters are Single Resident Occupancy (SRO) with a bedroom, bath and sink and a shared shower, kitchen and recreation room.
Jack said his years on the streets were a learning experience.
“I met some of the most interesting people on the streets who have shared a lot," he said. "There is much wisdom with the elders,” he said.
Today he has a roof over his head and his goal of a bike delivery business. Jack sells Street Roots newspapers near Findley Commons on Southeast 58th Avenue and Southeast Powell Boulevard. You can support Jack via Venmo @StreetRoots by entering his name and badge number (585) in the notes.
“I love the paper and I love reading it,” he said. “It is a reality of what is going on.”
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly investigative publication covering economic, environmental and social inequity. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
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