At the Butler Eagle, we have a lot to be thankful for this year.

We have been blessed with great employees in every department, from maintenance to the business offices, from advertising to circulation, from the press room to the newsroom — we’re really lucky.

We’ve also struck gold with our readership. We don’t just have subscribers, we have an active and engaged community of readers. That’s nothing to take for granted in this day of fast-paced, flashy and sometimes AI-generated online content that could redirect an audience.

It’s because Butler County residents care about their hometowns. You want to know what is going on in your school districts, why your borough is digging up a road, whether or not your township is considering a tax hike next year and what the police have been up to lately.

People have a lot of opinions about what journalists do, but here is the most simple explanation — especially in community newspapers:

We go so you can stay home, so you can make it to your child’s soccer game, so you can make dinner or work late.

We go to the council, township supervisor and county commissioner meetings, so if you can’t make it, you’ll still know what happened. When school boards meet to plan renovations or new curricula, we go so if you’re busy we can let you know what is going on in your child’s school.

When the sirens go off, when the crime scene tape goes up, we go so you’ll know what happened.

At the very core of community journalism, that is our mission — we go so you can still be well-informed without having to go yourself.

We’re so grateful that you trust us with that very important role, and we’re always striving to do the best work we can. Journalism is much less a job than it is a vocation and getting a chance to share what we love to do.

Happy Thanksgiving to our readers, we’re so thankful for you. We wish you an amazing holiday season ahead.

— KL