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Real Change profile: Frank

There’s Frank. You can spot him blocks away, selling Real Change newspapers at the QFC (on Ariauna’s off days). He sports a pink cap, as if the crew chief of his snazzy bike-trailer rig, which is also resplendently pink, front to back. Frank is 48 going on 30. He took up selling Real Change a couple of years ago, after his wife left him, taking his daughter and most of his world belongings.

Frank was a complete wreck for two years after his divorce, got into trouble with drink and the law, paid restitution for his bad behavior, and then hit the road on his bike. It’s actually a fairly common tale.

Frank’s should be a very sad story, but he’s never to be seen without a ready smile and a few off-color jokes. Many go on long bike camping trips and come home to regale friends and family with tales, except of course, while Frank has many friends, he has no family. Frank’s trips to the San Juan Islands and beyond are each one of kind adventures, and his bike is necessarily his home wherever he goes. The bike trailer holds his remaining worldly belongings, and he sleeps (camps) in Gasworks Park except on police sweep nights, during which he pulls up stakes and heads for the bushes in Meridian Park, which appeals because it is also home of the Wallingford Farmers Market.

When asked why his bike and trailer are each painted a flaming pink, Frank looks dumbfounded at the stupidity of such a question. “No one would dare steal my stuff [meaning the hardware]. If they tried, everyone in the neighborhood would know it’s stolen, and from whom.”

Laying asleep atop Frank’s bedroll, clothes and what-nots, is Win (Winifred), Frank’s aging collie, an added deterrent to the criminal mind.  Frank was a panhandler until he recognized the intrinsic value of having a “day job” when the financial situation required it. He likes the folks running RCHEP, where he picks up his papers in the morning. There’s free coffee, hot political discussion, and it’s the closest thing Frank has to a family. “They’d know if I went missing.”

Frank is not a member with Ariauna in the 300 Club because he doesn’t take his work quite as seriously, and besides, he likes to travel. He is worried after Win because she doesn’t travel quite as well as she used to. Most of the money Frank earns selling the newspaper goes to Win’s food and health. “I can fend for myself with that, but Win’s having some problems now.”

Watching Frank load his pink rig and helping Win up atop her throne, it makes one think his is not a bad life, except when it is.

About Real Change

http://sovereignfunding.com/blog/2011/09/real-change-offers-real-hope.html

Meet Ariauna

http://sovereignfunding.com/blog/2011/09/real-change-offers-real-hope-2.html

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