Welcomes and Thank Yous, and Please Donate

Donations so far have been wonderful. THANK YOU to all who have supported the work we do at the Mercury. Seeing people turning out and supporting the Merc last week gave me a real boost in energy, so THANKS!

If the Mercury is going to survive, however, we still have a long way to go. Last week we raised about enough to run our email listserv for the year. That is great news, but it one of our smaller monthly obligations.

Please donate now.

Your support goes first toward general operations: website costs, email service, transportation fees and that sort of thing. We need your help to cover that.

Please make a donation today.

You can use a credit card or your paypal account. Every donation matters. No matter your donation, we will send you an oval “Merc” sticker to thank you.

One last note: the Arlington Community News Lab (which publishes the Mercury) is a nonprofit corporation registered in Virginia. We have applied for tax-exempt 501(c)3 status with the IRS. In the next month, or so, the IRS tells us they will be formalizing new rules to cover the tax-exempt status for news outlets like the Mercury. A couple months from then, the IRS should rule on our status. If they agree that we fit the new rules, donations made this year will be tax-deductible. However, we do not know about our status yet.

THANK YOU!

WELCOME STAFFERS:

I just wanted to take a minute to welcome some new faces to the Mercury.

Steve Cordle has started a book review blog he's calling "Crusty Comments." He tells me he is a fan of science fiction, but since he reads multiple books a week, he reads at least a little of everything. He plans on posting a review a week. We'll post them on Monday mornings STARTING TODAY. Look for him!

Sydney Paul is a graduate student at the Merrill School of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. She already has one story on our site, and I am really looking forward to more. Thank you, Sydney!

Lucy Westcott, also a graduate student from the Merrill School of Journalism, is working on a story now that I hope to offer you at the end of the week.

Both Sydney and Lucy are talented writers, and I am really looking forward to working with them.

OTHER WAYS TO HELP:

Want to support the Mercury, but don’t want to spend money?

You can still help by telling friends about the Mercury, “Liking” our Facebook page and following us on Twitter (@arlingtonmerc).

Please join our email list!

Please, tell your friends about the Mercury and help keep this grand experiment going.