Much to be thankful for

The Storm Lake Times has a lot to be thankful for when we sit down to celebrate Thanksgiving next Thursday. First and foremost, we are thankful to you, our readers and advertisers, for your support that has helped us survive challenging economic times brought on by the pandemic. We are thankful that our nation seems to be recovering from that pandemic, which has killed nearly 800,000 people and crippled our economy for more than a year. The Times has fought the battle for survival like so many small businesses, and hope we have turned the corner towards health and prosperity for ourselves and our community. We are thankful for the publicity we received from the well-crafted documentary “Storm Lake,” which was broadcast on PBS Monday night. Our city can be proud. We are thankful for filmmakers Jerry Risius and Beth Levison, who brought the story of The Times and our community to a national audience to enjoy. The outpouring of support we have received from across the nation has been most gratifying. Our email inboxes have been overflowing with gracious notes, many of them from former Storm Lakers with fond memories of their hometown, while many others speak warmly of a rural town in northwest Iowa they’ve never seen until now. It’s not possible to thank all of you personally, but we keep you all in our hearts. It gives us hope for the future of small towns and the journalists who tell their stories.  We are thankful for all the dedicated employees who are the unsung heroes in publishing a good newspaper: wife Mary, Art’s wife Dolores, Tom Cullen, Jon Robinson, Jamie Knapp, Jen Olson, Jake Kurtz, Jennifer Newton and, of course, Peach the Newshound. I am most thankful that brother Art joined me in this adventure over 31 years ago to build a community newspaper that is admired across the nation for an unflinching dedication to honest journalism. Art’s Pulitzer Prize-winning writing has brought him, and our City Beautiful, national acclaim through network television, public radio and influential publications like The New York Times, Washington Post and Guardian. He has been a one-man civic promoter, criss-crossing the nation for the past year telling Storm Lake’s story. We are thankful to be able to publish our newspaper in a community that has opened its arms to people from around the globe, fulfilling the welcoming words to immigrants on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.” As the movie “Storm Lake” shows, there is a great reservoir of stories for a newspaper to tell here. And with your support, we plan to be around for many more years telling many more of their stories. Thank you! John Cullen is the founder and retired publisher of The Storm Lake Times. He can be reached at news@stormlake.com.