Every month a small group of people gets together to assemble the monthly newsletter and prepare it for mailing. It's a big job but it isn't as bad as one might think. The banter is enjoyable and you never know what topics will come up. We've discussed everything from politics to education to raising children. Over the years the group has changed as people have come and gone. The character and good fun remains.
Today Harry and Dot Calkins were the first to arrive. Bob Walker came in a few minutes later. Shortly afterward Sharon Fishkin and her son, Connor, arrived. Sandy Stone chipped in and took her mom's place. Carol Calkins is one of the regulars but she was away this month. Steve Contois dropped in to practice his guitar but when he saw the group hard at work, he decided to lend a hand. I'm not sure if Harry and Bob shamed him into it or he honestly wanted to help. None-the-less it helped move everything along.
Today's newsletter had more pages and a greater circulation than normal. Four times a year we send out the newsletter to our wider distribution list and add a few extra goodies. We call it the quarterly edition. It usually takes longer to prepare but with all the extra help we sailed right along.
Back when I started at the church we did it all in the office. Chris Montalvo, my first secretary, and Amy Rezendes, my second secretary did most of the work. Of course the newsletter was much smaller back then. It consisted of anywhere between one and four double sided letter size pages folded in the middle. Today the average newsletter is almost four times that size. We use three double sided ledger (11 x 17) size paper and a letter size insert.
The format has changed quite a bit too. Our newsletter has always been newsy as opposed to a strictly billboard format. After I finished my doctoral project (which was published as the Church Newsletter Handbook by Judson Press in 1997) I began adding content that was not directly FBC related. It was added to help educate, inspire, and inform our members.
A lot changed when we introduced our first new Macintosh computer back in 1990. It was purchased with a gift in memory of Ethelyn Sebastian. This computer allowed us to use graphics and page layout designs. Instead of cuting and pasting and using glue stick to put the newsletter together, we did more and more of it with the computer and started printing oujt the finished product. The addition of a scanner a couple of years later allowed us to b egin importing photographs as well. We have come a long way.
We still send out about 260- 275 newsletters every month. Technology allows us to post them on on our web site in full color. More and more people are enjoying them that way but we still mail out the hard copies. In the next ten years this may all change. I hope not. Because it would mean that our special little group wouldn't have to get together anymore and I would miss it.
Some of the others who have been part of this special circle over the years include Hal Brockway, Henry & June Pendleton, Will Willey and Buffy McFalls.
So if you want to check out the latest newsletter, go to www.fbcnorwich.org and look for the June Newsletter link.
Cal
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