Thanks to volunteers helping tell our community’s story

As board members, we’re thankful to everyone who is involved in producing The Charlotte News. In print for 66 years, the newspaper has evolved and the publication process for each issue is now quite complex. It doesn’t just “happen.”

So, what does it take to produce 25 editions of the newspaper each year?

First, financial support from our readers is vital and this is an excellent time to make your gift, since all gifts up to $1,000 will be matched, dollar for dollar, thanks to our NewsMatch grant. Your gifts have twice the impact.

Second, our four-person staff — Anna Cyr, Scooter MacMillan, Susan Jones and Susie Therrien — work together to write and organize the stories, place advertisements, lay out the newspaper, update the website and take care of the bookkeeping. We’re grateful to each of you.

Third, as you’ll see from the list below, a much larger group of more than 150 people — all unpaid volunteers — also contributed to the newspaper this year. They wrote stories, submitted photos, proofread every edition, distributed papers around town, provided advice and served on our board and committees.

Without their talent and efforts, The Charlotte News would be a much less vibrant newspaper. Publishing this list is our way of saying thanks; it’s our Gift of Gratitude to these individuals, many of whom have been involved with the newspaper for decades.

As we enter the holiday season, please take a moment to tell us about someone you’re grateful to for their personal support or their contributions to the Charlotte community. You can do this when you make your Gift of Gratitude on our secure website at charlottenewsvt.org. Our deadline for Gifts of Gratitude is Nov. 30 – give or take a couple of days. We’ll publish the list of everyone honored with a Gift of Gratitude in our Dec. 12 newspaper.

All Gifts of Gratitude are matched, so when you make a gift of, say, $100, we receive $200. A $60 gift becomes $120, and so on. It’s quick and easy to make your tax-deductible Gift of Gratitude on our secure website.

Each year, it takes our staff, our freelancers and more than 140 volunteers to produce The Charlotte News and to make it freely available to everyone who lives here. It also takes financial support from everyone in Charlotte who is able to help, even just a little. We’re grateful to everyone who contributes by volunteering or making a gift — or both. Thank you all.

(Bill Regan is chair of the board of directors of The Charlotte News. John Quinney is a member of the board and chair of the fundraising committee.)