The Contributor, the homeless newspaper here in Nashville, needs more help than simply buying the paper. It is a genuine non-profit organization in need of donations.
Founder and Executive Director for The Contributor Tasha Lemley started out as a photojournalist when she moved to Nashville, and she quickly saw the homeless community as a place she could serve.
“I started making friends on the street and falling in love with these people,” she said. “I thought, what can I do to fully be a part of this community?”
Lemley said she knew of street newspapers in other cities and thought that using her journalism skills would be a great way to bring people together. “I never thought it would get people off the streets,” she said
The Contributor started out having two goals, according to Lemley: “create a quality publication that tells about issues related to homelessness and poverty,” and secondly, “create a source of income for the homeless community.”
Lemley said those were the main goals The Contributor was founded on, but a third purpose of the paper showed itself as the most meaningful and inspirational goal of all.
"The Contributor" staff
“The most inspiring part is the stories that come out about getting people to dialogue with one another,” Lemley said. “We get to see lives changed on both sides of the economic divide.”
Lemley mentioned a story about a dentist talking to a newspaper vendor and finding out that he can help the vendor by giving him free dental work. But not all the stories have monetary value, she said. “My favorite story involves an older woman who has never spoken to someone who is homeless and finding a friend there.”
The Contributor is designed to benefit the homeless community as well as the community that lives around Nashville.
“These stories are the most inspiring part of my job,” Lemley said. “These things changed my life.”
The way The Contributor helps the homeless get off the street is fairly simple. The vendors purchase the papers for $0.25. They then sell the paper for a dollar and get 100 percent of the profit. None of the money goes back to the organization, which is something that Lemley said most people do not understand.
“One of the things we’re struggling the most with is helping customers understand that the money they give the vendors stays with them and does not go back to the organization,” Lemley said.
The Contributor is a non-profit organization that needs donations in order for the company to run and continue to change lives. Donations help the newspaper and the vendors to succeed, Lemley said.
“A third of our vendors have gotten housing and are off the streets as a result of The Contributor.”
Photos courtesy of The Contributor.