This is 'our' community

Last week during the Holiday Stroll, I had the privilege of meeting several people who had just moved to the area. It's not a secret or anything new that the Sanders County population is increasing. It seems there are new people every time you go into a store or to a fundraiser or a sporting event.

I've written before about how we all come from somewhere, and we ended up in Sanders County for different reasons. On Friday, I met a Ledger reader who had very nice things to say about the newspaper. What stuck with me about this conversation, however, was that more than once he said "our" paper. That one little word made me so proud.

Local journalism has changed since I started my career in the 1990s and even since I bought the newspaper almost six years ago. What I've seen through a pandemic and a political culture that supports division is that people are longing to be invested in something and have a sense of community. The newspaper and the local stories we tell is just one spoke in that wheel of connecting people. I take pride in the fact that our pages each week can make someone from California or Washington or Helena who has just moved here feel more part of the community and inform them about what it's like to live in Sanders County.

I was part of an organization that was having trouble getting volunteers. You had an older generation who justified not stepping up because they had already put in years of service. Then you had a younger generation who said they didn't have time due to kids or family obligations. So who is there to help? What I’m experiencing is the newcomers to Sanders County, who some are quick to judge, are the ones stepping up, getting involved, and making sure our small-town traditions such as Christmas on Main Street continue.

As a reminder, I was born and raised here, then moved back in 2008 after college and a marriage and a divorce and all the other life experiences that led me to buying a newspaper. I’m not saying people who have lived here forever aren’t doing their part. I am saying that welcoming new people is good for the community. We can all get along. We can all help each other and we can all help “our” communities thrive.

— Annie Wooden