Dear Editor: I am so grateful for those who came to our event last week, ‘‘Ripped from the Headlines: Tales of Creating the News and Being the Story.’’ This was an event that was produced by Artchange and held at Harbor Mountain Brewery.
The event was meant to raise the profile of the importance of local news and remind our community how special it is that Sitka has two trusted local daily news sources.
Now more than ever local news needs our support. Our local newspaper prints (and online) news stories that help us engage as citizens, get information we need to make decisions and build a better Sitka. It also prints obituaries, sports, birth announcements, cruise ship calendars, legal notices, advertisements, and photographs that reflect important community moments.
It’s a daily printed locally owned newspaper which is virtually unheard of in the rest of the United States.
Thank you to Beverly Caldwell who kicked off our local campaign to raise funds with her $25,000 match. Please visit Juneau Community Foundation’s Friends of Sitka Sentinel site to donate to this important local news cause.
KCAW is another critical news source that brings local news to our ears so we can drive, fish, cook, clean and carry on while we hear what is happening at the City and Borough Assembly meeting, and stories from our entire community several times each weekday. This station is critical in relaying information during emergencies like tsunami warnings and landslide dangers. It is a hub of public service announcements and is vital to helping citizens engage in our community.
A huge shout out to all our story tellers for bringing Sitka Tells Tales to life in person and on the radio, airing on KCAW Sitka. Thanks to Garrett Faulkner, Mary Goddard, Rich McClear, Sandy Poulson, Ryan Cotter, Barnaby Dow and Anna Laffrey.
Thanks to Harbor Mountain Brewing Co. and Campfire Pizza for making food, beverage and their space available to us. Harbor Mountain made a special Cable House saison and donates one dollar to KCAW with each beer sold.
Thank you to Daily Sitka Sentinel and Raven Radio, both as the inspiration for this event and for helping us get the word out. Thanks also to our story coach Rachel Thompson, timer Ariadne Will, photographer Clar Joaquin, volunteer Elle Anhault and to Drew Sherman and Dave Emmert for recording, engineering and making the broadcast and podcast versions of Sitka Tell Tales happen.
Thank you to Ellen Frankenstein from Artchange. She organizes and carries out these amazing storytelling events with non profits across the community. She provides storytelling coaching and does all the PR, providing a great opportunity to connect with our friends and neighbors which is really the best of what living in a small community is all about.
We really appreciate our live audience and the donations that were made to KCAW, Artchange and to the Friends of Sitka Sentinel. It’s not too late to give.
It was wonderful to think about the impact of a local free press and go behind the scenes with the makers. If you missed the event the stories will be aired this week during KCAW’s pledge drive on KCAW. And you can find past episodes of Sitka Tells Tales wherever you listen to podcasts or go to the Artchange Inc. website.
Thank you,
Lisa Busch
Friends of Sitka Sentinel
