THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
My late mother said I was born to be a writer, but journalism had to find me.
After graduating from UNH-Manchester, I took a semester off to work on my application for a Master’s/Ph.D program in Mass Media with plans to become a professor.
I needed to work in the interim, so I responded to an ad to be a reporter for the Goffstown News, a weekly newspaper covering four Southern New Hampshire towns. My task was to keep readers informed about everything going on in their town -- from budgets to candidates for town office to business openings to personal stories, like a family needing help to pay for their child’s cancer treatments.
I saw first-hand that through my job as a reporter, I could positively affect people’s lives. I had found a life’s purpose, and that’s how I eventually ended up as the editor of ParentingNH, and not at graduate school.
My mission for 20 years as a journalist has been to inform and engage readers on topics that are important in their daily lives and help them be part of their communities.
ParentingNH has covered topics including teen mental health, diversity, school safety, gay adoption, single parenthood, civic engagement, college readiness, charter schools, child development, working mothers, STEM, enrichment programming, community events and summer camps. And since spring, ParentingNH has focused primarily to the topic of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on families, organizations and businesses.
Businesses, especially those serving families in-person, have struggled because they have had to close or can’t be open to capacity, as we wrote about in our November issue. They’ve had to cut expenses, and that includes advertising dollars, which support many of the newspapers and magazines that you read. As a result of this incredibly difficult situation in our market, it saddens me to announce that this is the last issue of ParentingNH.
PNH is just one of a great many publications and newspapers across the country that will not survive the pandemic. My hope is that in the years to come the industry can rebound so that those who depend on local journalism to stay informed will benefit. Ad revenues may have declined, but readership has increased.
I’m lucky to have worked with such a dedicated and supportive team, and with many talented local writers and photographers that have contributed to ParentingNH. I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to have been the editor of this magazine for 146 issues.
Most importantly, we are deeply indebted to the readers and advertisers that have supported us for the last 27 years.
Wishing you good health and happiness this holiday season,
