Business / Economy

For BenitoLink, 2017 is a year of promise and adventure

BenitoLink Executive Director Leslie David reflects on the online news website's first year as a nonprofit and says there's even more to look forward to in the new year
Pledge Graphic Medium*.jpg
Pledge Graphic Medium*.jpg

With growing support, 2016 was a great year for Benitolink. The plain truth is, we've had a lot of fun covering all the amazing, frustrating, inspiring, heart-warming and innovative news and events that happened in San Benito County this year.  

Although we don't have a final tally yet, the Pledge of Champions has been a huge success, bringing Benitolink into the new year full of opportunity. A non-profit online news site bringing in over $29,000 in community donations? That's incredible! 

For the BenitoLink Team, it is so rewarding to see San Benito County residents support their own local website in such a big way. In the next few days, we'll have the grand total which will be doubled by a grant from the Community Foundation for San Benito County and a donation from the Randy and Rebecca Wolf Family Fund. 

Thank you to our individual donors, business sponsors, contributors, community partners, reporters, photographers and especially, our major donors for ensuring BenitoLink will continue to grow and thrive so county residents can stay on top of things, and be informed and engaged in San Benito county's future.

The stories our contributors post on BenitoLink are full of passion and character and make the online conversation inclusive and genuine. Anyone is welcome to write, as long as they follow our Terms of Use. Opinion pieces written by residents are revealing and thought-provoking. This growing pool of citizen-writers brings in many varied, local voices to the website. BenitoLink is San Benito County.

If you haven't already done so, we urge you to register on the BenitoLink website (BenitoLink.com) so you too can share your ideas and passions with the community. By keeping it civil, the homegrown community conversation can help us explore and find answers.

Sign up on our Homepage for the BenitoLink Weekly News Wrap Up, so it can arrive in your email box. Many of our readers tell us they look forward to BenitoLink arriving every Wednesday morning with the week's major stories.

The BenitoLink reporting team is dedicated to providing accountable, REAL news for our entire community and we appreciate the opportunity to do what we love. and provide more each year. 

Your support is making it all happen. Thank you to all who contributed to the Pledge of Champions and showed their dedication to community-supported news and information.

Here's to 2017 and hearing from every neighborhood, urban or rural, in this beautiful and unique county.

 

 

Leslie David

Leslie David is a Bay Area independent reporter/producer and is a BenitoLink founding board member. She has produced for radio, television, newspaper and magazines in both California and Wyoming. She was with KRON-TV News in San Francisco as camera-woman, editor and field producer, where she won the Commonwealth Club's Thomas Storke Award with Linda Yee for their series on the Aids Epidemic. She started as a small market news reporter shooting her own 16mm film at KEYT-TV Santa Barbara. Leslie lives on a ranch with her family in San Benito County.