BY MIKE FUHRMAN
As we mark our sixth anniversary today, I want to take the opportunity to thank our readers and advertising partners for your continuing support of Iredell Free News. During the past 12 months, you’ve helped us set new records for pageviews for our website and increase our financial contributions to local schools and nonprofits.
You clicked on our pages, articles, photo galleries, columns and obituaries a total of 2,927,897 times during 2021; that’s an increase of more than 330,000 pageviews over the prior year. We’re now averaging more than 10,000 pageviews per day.
To our regular readers, thanks for allowing us to be part of your day. If you are not receiving our free daily email edition and want to, visit HERE or drop me an email at iredellfreenews@gmail.com.
Thanks to the continuing support of our long-time advertisers — Randy Marion Chevrolet, Randy Marion Ford-Lincoln, Piedmont HealthCare, Iredell Health System and Payne Chiropractic — and our other community partners, we were able to donate more than $7,000 to local schools and nonprofit organizations in 2021. We supported literacy and tutoring programs, food pantries and food drives, the homeless shelter, animal rescue efforts, soccer teams, suicide prevention efforts and more.
Our all-time charitable contributions are now close to $40,000. If you made a donation in December after completing our Reader Survey, you played a big part in this. Thanks to your generosity, we contributed $1,000 to Fifth Street Ministries for its tiny-homes-for-veterans project.
Finally, I want to express my appreciation to our long-time correspondents, Karissa Miller, Debbie Page and Brandy Templeton. They have been integral to our success. Thanks also to our web guru, John Mairs, who has worked his magic to keep us up and running every day since day one.
When we launched this experiment in community journalism on January 10, 2016, our goals were simple: (1) promote civic engagement, and (2) support the many forces for good in Iredell County.
Six years later we remain humbled and gratified by the support we’ve received — and we’re energized to keep at it.
As always, thanks for reading.
Mike Fuhrman is editor of Iredell Free News.
Thank you for providing this service!
Thank you Mike, you and your staff do a fantastic job.
Congratulations on your success !
Thank you for doing this.
Thanks for all you do for our community Mike. The way you approach life is inspiring.
Mike – Congratulations and THANKS for publishing IredellFreeNews.com every day for the past six years!! Its a great way to stay connected and updated on things going on in Iredell County. I appreciate you and your entire staff!!
Thank you for your continued support of our community and especially our schools!
Thank you for giving us opportunity to catch up on news. Many of us are not able to subscribe to paper as our funds are limited. Thank you again & God bless
Thanks for your innovation and contributions to our community!
Your publication makes a huge contribution to our community daily. Thank you and your staff for your dedication.
Open your email edition every morning and try to follow up the web page later. Thank You and Happy Birthday.
Thank you for this publication! You & your team are doing a great job – and we appreciate you all!
Thanks to all of you who work hard to give us such a good source of news. It’s always my first go to. Looking forward to many more years!
I grew up in Iredell County and attended Statesville City Schools. Having moved away many years ago, the Iredell Free News online has kept me connected to my hometown. A big thank you to Mike Fuhrman and his staff for their support of the schools, other charitable organizations, and the continued reporting of newsworthy events in Statesville/Iredell County.
Wherever I travel, my day starts with iredellfreenews.com and I feel at home again. Happy Birthday and thanks for your continuing down-home news!
Thank you for the ability to access local news easily, and for free, every day. Thank you for the balanced coverage. Thank you for supporting public education, teachers, students, and the many organizations that support our community!! It does not go un-noticed.
I was holding my breath for fear you were leaving us but am so happy that was not the case. But you do need to write more with your fine insights. Best wishes, Betsy Kennington
Look forward every day to reading the free news. Thank you.
Grateful for each of you and the work you do in our community. In these days where journalism is constantly being attacked, you are a breath of fresh air!