Our team at Bucket List Community News hopes you are enjoying the start of the holiday season. Along with the festivities many of us give generously at this time of year. We hope you will dig into your pockets to support community journalism. In light of that we have the who, what, where, when, why and hows of contributing to Bucket List Community News during our #newsCOneeds fundraising drive which goes until December 31.
Why We Do This
In August 2019, our publisher, Vicky Collins, was feeling the weight of the world. In her TV news job she was bouncing around from tragedy to tragedy covering the Kelsey Berreth murder case, the story of a little boy who was hurled off the third floor of the Mall of America, two mass shootings and Hurricane Dorian. She wanted to cut through the sadness, so she created Bucket List Community News to share reflections on her new neighborhood in Denver. When COVID struck in early 2020, Bucket List found its purpose: informing and connecting the community with free hyperlocal neighborly news. Our solution-oriented, character-driven storytelling captured an audience and we’ve grown ever since.
What We’re Doing
Over the last couple of months, our team of multimedia journalists has produced podcasts and stories that matter to the community. Stories you won’t see anywhere else. You can check out some of this top-notch reporting below.
Our most recent podcasts by Mimi Herrick with Anne Trujillo and Brianna Titone
Documenting Life with Long Covid Makes Golden Girl a TikTok Star by Daianee Galindo
School Board Candidates Reflect on Their Educations by Jackie Ramirez
Denver Churches Offer Safe Space to LGBTQ Community Among Rising Bigotry by London Lyle
Denver Community Steps Up to Help Venezuelan Refugees by Daianee Galindo (Spanish translation here.)
History Colorado Launches New Green Book Project by Mabel Gonzalez
These stories are done by aspiring journalists from CU Boulder and MSU Denver. Bucket List is the first step on their career path, and to date, we have mentored over 30 students and recent graduates who are the next generation of storytellers. They move forward into excellent jobs too.
Who Supports Us
We have received a $5000 matching grant from Colorado Media Project and generous contributions from others to get us going. Kathy Neustadt and Ginny Jordan have each given $2000 as additional challenge matches.
Gary Shapiro.
Gary Shapiro has seeded our partnership program with his recurring contribution. His $50-a-month gift ensures money comes in regularly to help with our operations. Everyone who gives a monthly contribution becomes a partner of Bucket List.
Phil and Angela Garvin, Tom Walsh and Robert Thoele have pledged over $3000 for the Darrell Ewalt Scholarship, which provides BIPOC journalists with more opportunities.
Where and When to Give
Starting Nov. 28 (Giving News Day) through midnight on Dec. 31 (Happy News Year), Bucket List Community News will be fundraising for our #newsCOneeds year-end campaign. We’ve set a goal to raise $7500 to keep us going. Raising this much money is a big reach for us, but we are confident with your support that we can do it. We believe people in Denver want solution-oriented journalism, and many are overwhelmed by news that divides rather connects us. We feel strongly that the community that inspires us will support us.
How We’ll Get There
Now we need you, Bucket Listers! Reaching that $7500 goal might be a challenge, but we’ve got this. Because of our matching grants, almost every penny you give will be doubled. We are so grateful you believe in what we are doing to innovate community journalism and provide free hyperlocal news without paywalls, memberships, ads or paid subscriptions. Thank you in advance for your generosity and for remembering community journalism in your holiday giving. P.S. We hear if you put a picture of a dog in your fundraising request people give more. So here is a photo of Vicky’s dog, Ca$h, our canine correspondent.
