Ten years ago today, carriers delivered the very first edition of the Alberni Valley News to the doors and businesses of people living in Port Alberni and surrounding areas.
Since then, we’ve delivered more than 600 editions of the News and the News-Advertiser to our readers, bringing them the community news that mattered most.
“We would like to thank all our readers and advertisers for their support over the past 10 years,” Black Press president and CEO Rick O’Connor said.
“Also, special thanks to all our employees, contributors and carriers, especially the current group for their efforts in making the Alberni Valley News a community media enterprise to be proud of,” he said.
“We are looking forward to the next 10 years serving the Alberni Valley.”
The News has gone from one edition a week to two; added a website, Facebook (where we have more than 4,000 followers), Twitter and Instagram. We’ve increased our office staff to 10 from six, and are proud to have a carrier and driver force of about 60 people.
We’ve added numerous editorial and advertising awards to our wall, which we couldn’t have garnered without the people who have so generously shared their lives with us.
We started the News barely a year and half before the recession of 2008 hit, a tough time to be a fledgling business, but we weathered the storm.
We have a number of employees who have been with us for the entire 10 years: drivers and carriers Chris Cappus, Bill Moore, Larry and Jenny Munn and Pam Webster; graphic designer Myrna Clark; and editor Susan Quinn.
We also have a number of delivery contractors who have been with us for more than five years: Jonathan and Ryan Behnke, Tanis Baxter, Theresa Gingras, John Hines, Ian Markewicz, James Maxwell and Tyler Van Kooten.
Publisher Teresa Bird joined us in time for our fifth anniversary and her strong leadership has carried us through numerous changes.
We had our party on Wednesday, after this edition of the News went to press. And we’re already working hard on the next one.
Thanks for taking this journey with us.
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