Week No. 3 of YachatsNews’ local fundraising campaign: Just like a house under construction, everything we publish is “hand made”

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews

My sister-in-law and her husband are building a house on the former Reynolds family property next door in our little Yachats neighborhood. As the lot was cleared, the foundation dug and poured and walls went up I admired all the workers who showed up each day to brave wind, rain and cold through the winter – and now sun this late spring – to erect the house.

Everything is hand made. No two-by-sixes went up without nail guns snapping off at 7:30 sharp each morning. No roof, no windows, no nothing without everything being done by hand.

I do not want to compare running a news website with what those construction workers go through every day. But I want to draw some comparisons as I ask – for the third week this month – for financial help to support this nonprofit news operation.

What goes onto the YachatsNews website each day is hand made. Yes, I sit behind a computer for hours each day. But what we do is hand made in most every sense.

Here are some examples from just this week:

• We did not attend a Lincoln County commissioner’s meeting last week in Newport, but quickly heard about a proposed 300 percent increase in vacation rental renewal charges tucked into a 30+ page recommendation on a wide variety of fees. A few calls, a records request, a listen to a meeting recording, and research on what other counties and cities charge quickly resulted in a contextual story on the proposed increase. That took portions of two days.
• The Oregon Coast Aquarium sent out a news release late last week on the surprise discovery of sunflower sea stars in Yaquina Bay. Lots of TV stations and even a few newspapers re-wrote the news release and called it good. YachatsNews freelance reporter Dana Tims has written extensively about sea star wasting disease on the Oregon coast. He – and we – took the time to call the foremost expert on the disease to put the unusual find – with all credit to the aquarium – into the real-world context that it needed.
• Friday kicks off what is no doubt Waldport’s biggest celebration of the year – Beachcomber Days. Organizers have flooded Facebook announcing the event. But freelance reporter Cheryl Romano talked to everyone, including the Waldport High students organizing the popular timber skills competition, explained why organizers work for months, and then laid out the schedule to help get the word out on that community’s biggest weekend.
• Staff reporter Garret Jaros attended Wednesday afternoon’s Yachats city council meeting expecting it to be a relatively routine session to approve pass the 2023-24 budget and OK new garbage rates. But what he’s writing about is the surprise resignation of councilor Ann Stott and the very candid assessment by the city’s newest interim manager of city hall operations.
• I attended the annual meeting of the Yachats Lions Club donation dinner Tuesday night where they handed out grants, scholarships and community service work worth a record $42,000. (Yes, even YachatsNews got a check!) A story the next day outlined who got what. That doesn’t happen unless you show up.
• Next week there will be stories on how to dig for clams on our beaches and bays, on city council meetings, endangered coastal wildlife, court proceedings – and hopefully some lighter, human interest stories

How do we do the work? By people trained as reporters showing up, asking questions, and then writing a (hopefully) clear, straightforward news story explaining it all.

My point is that no one is doing this in much of Lincoln County. We think reporting a wide variety of news – homemade by us and other partner organizations around Oregon – is critical to a healthy community and civic engagement. We think information of all kinds is valuable – and worth doing.

That’s why the four-year-old YachatsNews transitioned to a 501c3 nonprofit last fall and – like last June – is running a one-month local fundraising campaign to support our efforts, which are expected to cost $81,000 this year alone.

As of Thursday, YachatsNews has received $13,225 from readers (and Yachats Lions) to combine with $10,000 total in “challenge matching” donations for a two-week total of almost $25,000. A reader has promised another $2,500 if we reach the $25,000 mark – so I’m hoping this week that you’ll help YachatsNews reach it and leverage one donor’s extra generosity.

You can help by contributing one of three ways:

• Write a check to YachatsNews and drop it in the mail to: Yachats News, P.O. Box 284, Yachats, Ore. 97498. For tax purposes, you will get a letter acknowledging your donation;
• Use the PayPal feature on the fundraising “thermometer” graphic with this article or via the “Donate” button of this website;
• Use the GoFundMe donation portal on the fundraising “thermometer” with this article.

Because we are a 501c3 nonprofit, any contributions are tax deductible.

If you have questions, please email me at YachatsNews@gmail.com or call me at 503-970-3867. I am happy to answer questions and share any nuances of the campaign, the transition, future plans, and operations the past 4½ years.

— Quinton Smith/editor