The Contributor (https://thecontributor.org/tag/vendor-spotlight/page/3/)
When Pedro Lopez goes out to sell The Contributor, he appreciates what he gets — but he relishes the chance to give. More than just letting that paper go, he tries to pay forward as many little blessings as he can. “A lot of people don’t know what you’re going through,” Lopez said. “And I wanna shout out the people who bless me with the paper. I give them gifts — even if it’s small, little things, I give ‘em.
“When so many people walk by you and they just don’t even acknowledge your existence, it starts to make you feel obsolete,” said Bradley Boyce.
At Pedro L.’s selling spot on Broadway and 14th Ave N, the light is so short that there’s not a lot of time to talk. But that doesn’t stop him from bonding with his customers. In the early mornings and mid-afternoons, Pedro’s sunny disposition is a welcome respite on three very different commutes. Shannon Meadors, minister to children at Nashville First Baptist Church, hopes to get a red light on her way to work so she and Pedro can catch up. She hears about his brother in Florida, his upcoming new teeth, and makes sure he has a safe place to sleep.
Pedro unfolds a piece of paper he pulled out of his wallet. It’s delicate, and has a hole in the middle, but the key piece of information is still intact. It lists his former salaries. That was back when he worked in a steel mill in Texas, after he cleaned up the 2010 flood damage in Opry Mills, but before his leg was severely injured in an accident. After working for seven years in pain, he couldn’t take it anymore.