It’s Christmastime and the holiday season, and it’s a good time to reflect on community.

There are many things to be grateful for this time of year, from gatherings with family and friends to time spent enjoying the bounty and beauty of Southern Oregon.

Our own annual series, “Hope for the Holidays,” wrapped up in the Rogue Valley Times’ print editions this past weekend, giving room for donations to arrive before Christmas Day. These are stories about local social service agencies helping people or families in need.

Knowing the impact these stories by reporter Buffy Pollock have each year tells us we’re doing things right, and it’s important to shine a light on the plight of our fellow citizens who might need a helping hand and who otherwise could drift into the shadows, remaining unnoticed and alone.

Community is at the heart of the Times’ mission. Our dedicated staff of hard-working reporters and editors help cover a wide variety of subjects, from news to sports to entertainment — all of it with a keen focus on Jackson County and our individual cities and towns that make up the Rogue Valley. There is never a shortage of story ideas, and we strive to offer an entire package that is engaging and informative.

The Times’ holiday-giving series, now in its second year since we launched as a start-up in February 2023 through EO Media Group, is indicative of our overall goal: serving readers by producing quality reporting that makes a difference.

Against the headwinds of hard times in the world of local journalism, in Oregon and elsewhere across the U.S., the Times persists. We ask everyone to realize there is little substitute for us to be able to focus on the people and the civic bodies in our communities and report important stories, from Ashland to Medford, Jacksonville to Shady Cove — day after day, week after week and year after year.

Our staff is here to share the stories that help us understand the threads that tie our communities together. Our local sports coverage by Sports Editor Kris Henry is unparalleled. We attempt to stay on top of normal crime coverage and an influx of daily press releases, but we make a great effort to find stories that people care about, the ones that connect.

Our own internal, analytical findings show that what everyone else in the Southern Oregon mediasphere is reporting at the same time falls to the bottom of the list in comparison to the truly unique coverage the Times can provide with editorial gumption, intuition and purposeful planning.

The biggest component in the success of RVT relies on your support. Without you, we wouldn’t exist, and the stories we scout out to share would indeed fall into the shadows and be replaced by bland and rote coverage that offers no context.

This is not about us but about you, clearly. We know how to do our jobs, and that won’t change. We will indeed inform you.

This is about what you expect from a local news source, one you are willing to stand side by side with and hold accountable for its depth and variety of coverage. It’s about the stories we share that you can oftentimes find nowhere else, and those are many. We want to be here to share those stories with you.

But we don’t do this for free.

For the advertising community, we urge you to come aboard and bring your message online or in print, or both, to local residents. We urge you to show that your stake in the success of the Rogue Valley includes a partnership with a local news source that is dedicated, willing and able.

Without true local journalism, everything is relegated to quick-hit, shallow coverage and social media chatter, which is good for no one. We support all news entities surrounding us in their mission to keep people informed, but we also know that given the chance, we can do it best. Our statewide awards as a first-year start-up in 2023 back that up, including General Excellence in our category, best website in the state, and top awards for our reporters and photographers. But we can never become complacent.

Ever-forward is a newsroom watchword at RVT, and it is a constant mantra that staff embrace daily; working hard in the face of industry adversity also is a commitment equally shared in totality by our coworkers in all departments.

Please join us in our mission to provide comprehensive and important local coverage — to highlight our unique cities and towns, our incredible student-athletes, to allow readers to understand and appreciate the variety of life in the Rogue Valley, north to south, east to west. With your support through online and print subscriptions, and advertising, we are here fully prepared to be a strong community partner on this journey.