As the online news magazine Watershed Voice enters the third quarter of its first year in business, staff and volunteers are making a push to ensure the online news magazine has solid footing to remain in business and grow. This Saturday, October 10, they plan to hold a drive-thru fundraiser at the Huss School parking lot at Eighth and Broadway Streets in Three Rivers. The event will run from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and will feature giveaways and a chance to meet staff, volunteers, and board members. Personnel will be on hand to take donations and subscriptions.
Founders established Watershed as a nonprofit organization to ensure it remains rooted in local ownership and service to its community. It began online publication on April 8, 2020, and features news, cultural features, and in-depth reporting on local personalities and politics in St. Joseph County and southwest Michigan. It also hosts several podcast series. Alek Haak-Frost is Watershed’s Executive Editor and generated the main idea behind the virtual publication.
“This is a community-supported publication,” Haak-Frost said. “It’s important that we have the community’s ear, but also that they have ours. It’s a partnership. The whole purpose is to ensure that daily news coverage will continue in Three Rivers for years to come.”
“We started Watershed Voice for a number of reasons,” Haak-Frost said. Partly, it was out of necessity. Haak-Frost spent four years at the Three Rivers Commercial-News, during which time he became its Managing Editor. He was downsized when the Commercial went from a daily newspaper printing six days a week down to just two weekly print editions. “I needed a job and I wanted to stay in this community, as I had recently married and bought a house,” Haak-Frost said. “Three Rivers is where I wanted to be, it’s my home.”
However, it is also a mission of personal importance for Haak-Frost. “The other reasons boil down to the importance of an informed and connected citizenry. We firmly believe community based and community supported journalism can help folks feel like they have a voice and a stake in how their stories are told. We want to give St. Joseph County a news organization that is as deeply rooted and invested in this place as they are.”
Haak-Frost said, “you hear a lot online that news, and the flow of information, should be free, and while I completely understand that notion, it costs money to collect information, sift through it, and help folks understand it. That means an editor, writers, and a whole team of people. We have a designer. We have a salesperson. They have to pay their bills. They’re providing a service to their community, and I think it’s important that people get to know us.
“We’re not carrying national news. This is about local news and features, some relevant state stuff, but mainly this is about St. Joseph County,” Haak-Frost said. “We want to support this community. We are about this community, and I hope people will see that and support us. We want the community to support us so we can support them.”
Saturday’s giveaways will include small yard signs and Watershed Voice stickers. “If you make a donation of $10 or more, or you get a recurring subscription, you will get a yard sign and a sticker,” Haak-Frost said. The idea is “basically just to spread the word and show your support for Watershed Voice.” Haak-Frost said if someone already has a subscription, they can come down and get a sticker or a sign at cost. In that case, stickers are $5, and signs are $10.
“This is a fundraising drive in order to keep this wonderful thing going. It’s something we’re very proud of, and I think the community is responding to it,” Haak-Frost said. “In order to maintain and grow, we need subscribers. We need donations. It is a collaboration, a partnership, and a community effort. It isn’t just our staff. It isn’t just our board members. This is Three Rivers. This is St. Joseph County’s news magazine. It’s not just ours.”
Members of the public arriving Saturday will find entrance and exit signs at the Huss Parking lot. People will drive up to the curb, following directional signage. Members of the public will be able to remain in their car, and personnel on hand will help visitors sign up for subscriptions and make donations. “We want everyone to be safe. We want everyone to wear masks and social distance. Staff will be practicing COVID-19 safety,” Haak-Frost said.
Board member Aundrea Sayrie said she values Watershed Voice “for its foundational values of being ethical, diverse, and a platform that gives voice to people within the community it serves.” Sayrie said that although the publication has faced pushback, its staff and contributors “have remained steady in their mission. That type of journalism is what sets Watershed Voice apart.” Sayrie said she supports Watershed because it “honors journalism for the art and responsibility that it is.”
Tom Lowry, who sponsors a number of running cultural features in Three Rivers such as the First Thursdays Open Mic series, has been a major supporter of Watershed Voice since its beginning. Lowry echoes Haak-Frost’s ethic. “I support Watershed Voice because we all need daily, dependable news, especially local news. I want to do my part to make sure Three Rivers has that.”
Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.
