May
1
The James Bay Newspaper Society is celebrating its 20th anniversary. To celebrate the anniversary, the May issue of the Beacon will feature a new masthead, a new look as we move towards the future. A future in which we will continue to strive to produce a community newspaper that meets all of our objectives: to educate readers as to their privileges, rights and responsibilities as residents of James Bay; to promote community pride and awareness of identity; to facilitate co-operation between individuals and organizations for the good of James Bay and its residents; to motivate involvement of residents in the community; to increase community awareness of the impact of decisions of governments that directly affect James Bay; to initiate change for good in the community; to highlight community issues; to welcome and inform newcomers; and to inform of opportunities of community service.
We are proud to encourage contributions from local residents and also from local community organizations. We feature regular columns from James Bay New Horizons, James Bay Community School, James Bay Community Project, James Bay Market, and the James Bay Neighbourhood Association. Many thanks to all of the individuals and organizations that contribute their writing and photographic skills to the paper.
Our website readership has grown from approximately 1,000 readers a month to now almost 3,000. Most of them are specifically looking for the James Bay Beacon.
In September we received our annual grant from the City of Victoria. As per last year, our gaming grant this year was initially cut by 50% but we were very pleased in March to be notified that the funding was restored to the previous level. We are very grateful to the City of Victoria, the BC Gaming Branch, and our advertisers for their continued support.
I would like to recognize and thank all of the board members that have voluntarily and loyally served the organization over the last twenty years. In particular I would like to thank Don Lindsay who has been a director for the last six years and has reached the end of his term. Don, many thanks for your contributions, you will be missed on board.
I think it's important to note that the Beacon is produced with only three paid positions...administrator, Deborah Antonsen who has been with us for 10 years, advertising sales manager, Rosalind Compton who has been with us for 7 years, and distributor. All the other positions that are needed, and there are many needed to produce the paper, are done by volunteers. I would like to thank all of them for their time, talent, energy and demonstrated commitment. Here's to another successful 20 years of publication!
Helen Tuele, Chair
Board of Directors
James Bay Newspaper Society