October 5, 2022 Breakfast Meeting Notes

The meeting opened with Tony’s Famous NH Trivia.

50/50 was won by Greg Englund.

Card game was won by Peggy who drew the 3 of diamonds so the game continues.

Our speaker today was Julie Hirschen Hart, editor of the Laconia Daily Sun. The Daily Sun is a free paper, which publishes daily Tuesday through Friday and also a combined Saturday-Monday edition. The circulation is 16,000 including both drop boxes and subscriptions. Founded in 2000, their goal is to “seek the truth and find it” with a fair approach to local news reporting

During the pandemic, the Daily Sun was an important source of local COVID information. Their journalism is funded by advertising, as well as by community and philanthropic grants. For example, they received a grant from the Endowment for Health that allowed them to hire a journalist to do “solutions journalism.” This type of reporting focuses on identifying problems within the community and researching solutions, including determining how various ideas have worked in other locales throughout the state and the country.

The paper has also held events that allow them to connect with a different audience than they would otherwise be able to reach (such as younger people and those who do not read a daily newspaper). For example they held a forum on the revitalization of downtown Laconia, bringing in developers who spoke about various possibilities for change. They also held a youth even at the Cake Theater on youth mental health during the pandemic.

News reported in the paper is sourced both locally by their own reporters and also through their partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. This includes sources such as the Concord Monitor, NH Public Radio, and others. They can send a reporter to local events (such as the Penny Sale) if one is available; if not, organizations can also send a photo and a brief description of the event and they will try to get it in the paper.

The remainder of the meeting was devoted to the Penny Sale. Setup is only 2 weeks away. Have your prizes available by then, or at least have a perforated sheet to leave in its place. Large items can be brought the night of the event, but we need that perforated sheet to get the list printed up. Tony informed us that 5 banners will need to be replaced. It was decided to use the more-expensive DJ and Peggy and Lora will assist with the extra expense. (Anyone else who wishes to donate is welcome to as well). Tickets and posters should be available today or in the near future and can be picked up at Noyes Insurance when they are printed.

Steve also discussed accepting credit card payments at the ticket sale booth. He has 2 card readers as well as two large versions of our QR codes. A final decision on how to handle processing and writing up tickets was deferred until next week to give Steve a chance to become more familiar with the technology and options.

Respectfully submitted,

Lora Miller, secretary