Three heart-warming surprises and request

When we first moved to Charlotte, one of the many heart-warming surprises we encountered was a community newspaper in our mailbox every two weeks. We relied on the paper to learn about the people, places and issues that defined our new home. The Charlotte News continues to help us connect with Charlotte and to understand the challenges facing the town. 

To provide this essential civic service year after year, the newspaper relies in large part on charitable gifts from Charlotters like you and me.

In a second heart-warming surprise, seven friends of The Charlotte News have issued a generous $10,000 challenge grant. With that challenge, plus our NewsMatch grant, all gifts will be triple matched — for a limited time only. For every $1 you give, the newspaper receives $3. 

It’s quick and easy to make your tax-deductible gift on our website or by sending your check to: P.O. Box 251, Charlotte VT 05445, using the envelope included with this newspaper.

I think of The Charlotte News as a kind of glue that helps hold us together. Charlotters differ in background, how they live their lives and the views they hold. But we are all members of this community and we all do better when we come together in the spirit of respectful civic discourse and community-building that the paper provides.

I may not agree with every story or the focus of every column, but I don’t do that with any of the news I consume (and, to be clear, board members like me have no role in the paper’s editorial decisions).

The Charlotte News provides a forum for different perspectives and interests rather than being the perfect echo-chamber for each reader and does so with built-in safeguards against the kind of incivility that can creep into social media.

This nonprofit newspaper comes without charge, but it is not free. It takes money — about $6,000 per issue — and many people working behind the scenes to provide this service.

This is where the third heart-warming surprise comes in. After our move, I quickly became aware of all the good that happens in Charlotte only because volunteers and donors large and small embody an “if not me, then who?” approach to their community. The Charlotte News helps residents learn about all the good that volunteers are doing around town and promotes opportunities for Charlotters to join in.

Like so many things in Charlotte that rely on the generosity of our residents, we simply could not publish the paper without your support.

In asking for your gift, we want to express our gratitude to the 265 folks who have already donated this year. And special thanks to the seven friends of the newspaper who pulled together to create this challenge. Show them you appreciate their generosity by making your gift today.

Thanks for your support in this season of giving.

(Bill Regan is chair of the board of directors of The Charlotte News.)