As the publisher of five weekly newspapers, I find myself on the email list of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of local organizations. So when Giving Tuesday came around and I opened my email inbox, it was unsurprising that there were many, many requests for donations from local charitable organizations, all of whom do wonderful things in the community.

Looking down the list, it struck me how many of these organizations are regularly supported by our weekly newspapers. When these groups have a message they need to get out to the community, they turn to Eagle News to help spread the word.

Throughout the year, our newspapers provide hundreds of area organizations with thousands of stories and event listings to help promote their activities. For communities to succeed, they need to be built on a strong foundation of community service. We see promoting these organizations – and the people behind them – as one of our primary responsibilities as community journalists.

A quick review of our papers from Dec. 4 shows that in the news and calendar sections of those newspapers, we helped promote the news and activities from 87 local organizations. Among them were four American Legion posts, seven animal shelters, two Meals on Wheels groups, three scouting troops, four senior centers, three food pantries, multiple community museums and historical groups and many, many more. While we spent thousands of dollars in printing, postage and staffing to help promote these groups, all of this publicity was provided free of charge.

Perhaps you are involved in one of the hundreds of organizations that benefit from our efforts throughout the year. Perhaps you, or someone you know, has been impacted by the work of these community groups. If so, and these community organizations are important to you, then please consider the value of the publicity we provide groups like this every week in our newspapers.

If you’re one of the many people who have already made a contribution to our efforts, we sincerely thank you. But if you haven’t yet made a contribution, and you see the value of our community support, please help us continue to provide vital publicity for these important community organizations. To do so, you can either fill out the form available each week in the paper and send it in with a check, or go to www.eaglenewsonline.com and click on Subscribe/Contribute button at the top of the homepage to make a contribution online. Regardless, we really need your help if we are to continue helping promote the work of these great groups.

We love helping these many important community organizations by promoting their missions and their events. With your help, we can continue to provide that support for many years to come.

Sincerely,
David Tyler,
Publisher