By Hannah Brandt
Thanks to you, we live to fight another day! On April 16, 2016, the newspaper held Community Alliance: The Next Generation, a fundraiser to keep the newspaper going. About 100 people attended. Former editor and one of the founders of the paper, Mike Rhodes signed copies and spoke about his new book, Dispatches from the War Zone, based on reporting for the newspaper about homelessness in Fresno. We are pleased to announce that over the course of our fundraising drive, we raised $13,500 to keep the paper alive! Here is what I said that evening.
Thank you all for coming and for your generous support of the paper over the years. Your support allowed us to not only print the March and April editions but soon the May issue, as well. I have many people to thank for today and I apologize if I miss anyone. Thank you to Pam Whalen, Camille Russell and Beverly Fitzpatrick, our fundraising queens, who led the organizing of this event. Dan Yassen and Vic Bedoian our advertising director and distribution coordinator, who also helped with the planning and execution of the day.
Thank you to our newest members of our editorial board: Dillon Savory and Amanda Tripp for helping get the word out. Thank you to Howard Watkins for helping with the food, set up, and for being our emcee. And to Merlinda Espinoza for providing us with beautiful music. There were many who helped sell tickets, but I wanted to mention a few stars in particular: Belinda Guerra, Victor Kral, Dee Barnes and Austin Hall. And Simone Cranston-Rhodes, Michael Banti and Emily Brandt for help setting up.
There are also too many to thank for assisting me these first six months as editor. I appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as I continue to learn the ropes of the job and get reacquainted with my hometown after living away for most of my adulthood. When I returned to Fresno two years ago and discovered Community Alliance, I knew I had found a place for real, independent journalism and a true community paper.
Going forward, we will continue that tradition and just update things a bit. The media landscape is changing quickly and we want to reach you where you are. To that end, our fabulous layout designer, Joel Perez and I work hard to get everything we print in the physical paper, up on the newspaper’s website, as well. We hope to reach people who may not even know about the paper. I always meet people in town–people of all ages and backgrounds–who I know would be interested in the paper but have never heard of it. People, like all of us, who need a reliable source of independent information on local and world issues.
So thank you again for helping us achieve our goals and forge ahead!
P.S. Don’t forget to register to vote by May 23, in time for the June 7 California primary election! http://registertovote. ca.gov/
Hannah Brandt, editor of Community Alliance newspaper
Thank you again to everyone who made this all possible…
Ida B. Wells ($500) level donors:
$1000 Mark and Jan Balcom
Howard and Chris Watkins
Vie Rhodes
Edward Snowden ($250) level donors:
Paul Gilmore and Mary Coomes
Ellen Bush
Camille Russell
Pam Whalen
Amy Goodman ($100) level donors:
Joan and Stan Poss
Ann Fadenrecht
Allen and Georgia Linscheid
Food Not Bombs Fresno
Ron Vineyard
Merrily Davies
Jerome Rice
Jose Ramirez
Humberto Gomez
Carole Laval
Mary Betteschild
Aggie Rose Chavez
Joan Hughes
Peter McDonald
Ellie Garabedian
Mary Perich
Eduardo Navarro
Mohammad Kashmiri
Leni Reeves and Barry Chambers
Richard and Carrie Russell
David and Carol Krehbiel
Elna and Jeffrey Barnes
Anne Merrill
Allen Church
Betsy Temple
Gail Newell
Radley and John Reep
Joy Chittick
Jeffrey Hallock
Victor Kral
Loretta Kensinger
Dr. K. O. Crosby
Dorothy and Bill Osak
Michael Mirigian
Douglas Gordon
Norman Lambert
Lee Liddle
Larry Taylor
Charlotte Showers
Lee Schilling
Deborah Jo Wagner
Ruth Austin
Alex and Vasiliky Vavoulis
Stephanie Frederick
Haidie Simonet
Robert Navarro
Emily Brandt
Ruth Gadebusch
Ronald Evans
Karen Goodman
Mary Savala
