Dear Eugene Weekly Readers,

We knew when we wrote our letter to readers that the loss of Eugene Weekly would matter to the community. We hoped you would rally to save us. Eugene Weekly readers have shown us over the years that this weekly paper matters — from all the letters you send for publication to the way you’ve picked up the paper from our red boxes. 

And your overwhelming support is showing us now how much local independent journalism matters. Thank you, so very, very much. The contributions you are making mean we have hopes of getting back on our feet and our inky paper back in your hands as we deal with this huge financial hit. And your notes have made us cry.

Per readers’ requests, we made a GoFundMe, which has raised more than $50,000. We have also received direct contributions through our website, and tax deductible donations through our nonprofit arm, TRIPS (Twin Rivers Institute for Press Sustainability).  

We’d rather write the stories than be the story, but we are still being blown away by how much the loss of local weekly paper matters to people across the country. 

You can peruse the stories by our local journalism community, which immediately sprung into action to publish at KLCC, The Register-Guard, and TV stations, including KEZI, KVAL and KMTR. And not to mention the Daily Emerald and Oregon ArtsWatch. 

Then The Oregonian/OregonLive, the Associated Press and Fortune magazine broadcast the story across the country, as did Business Insider. 

More recently the New York Times and the Washington Post picked up the story of this community newspaper’s struggle — and everything the community is doing to help. 

With your much-needed ongoing help, we are working on a plan to get back into print, as well as a short-term plan and a long-term plan that will keep Eugene Weekly in town for another 40 years. And this plan involves not only a plan for writing and printing the paper, but a financial plan and management structure to keep us going and make sure this never happens again. 

Local journalism matters.  

Thank you,

Eugene Weekly
#SaveEugeneWeekly

PS. You can also drop by our office at 1251 Lincoln Street, Eugene OR 97401 where we are trying to hang in there! We look a little closed, but we are there.

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