The little girl was going door to door, asking people to donate money so she could buy protective gear for dogs who sniff out explosives. She had read that the humans on these missions wear protective vests, but the canines didn’t, and she didn’t think that was fair.
Her neighbor emailed me almost 20 years ago, when I worked right here at the Greenville Journal. The girl, just 7 or 8 years old, had collected less than $100, nowhere near enough to buy a protective vest, which can cost more than $2,000. I couldn’t resist writing her story.
Soon, funds were pouring in from around Greenville County, and she ultimately bought not one, but two protective vests. I was a small part in this story — it was the girl’s idea, her parents’ help, her community’s support — but, as a young journalist, that feeling stuck with me. I had been able to shine a spotlight on a person’s effort to help, allowing other people to join in. The dogs were better protected, but beyond that, the community rallied together, and a girl recognized her power to create change by putting a noble idea into action.
I knew then that I didn’t need to move to a big city or work for a huge daily newspaper to make a difference.
Working at the Greenville Journal back then — my title was Community Editor — gave me the opportunity to see my hometown in a new light. I wrote about everything: cigarette taxes, buskers, parking lot ordinances, bagels, farmers, triathletes, cancer survivors and so many more. I began to understand what a former mentor meant when he told me that there were no boring stories, only poorly told ones.
We even did a project where we randomly selected readers and called them, saying, ‘What’s your story?’ Invariably, the person we called had a great one.
My love of journalism has only grown in the ensuing 20 years. Though I left the Greenville Journal to go out on my own as a freelancer while raising my children, I missed the camaraderie of the newsroom, and I always hoped that when the time was right, I’d be back.
Last year, I was excited to accept a new position with the company, working with TOWN magazine and vive, our new offering curated for active adults 55-plus. And I also get to stay involved here at the Greenville Journal, where I cut my teeth as a journalist two decades ago.
In some ways, journalism is a different world now. The news cycle never ends, and we are constantly updating stories online, sharing information on social media and employing all manner of new technology.
But some things haven’t changed at all. At its core, journalism is still very simple: it’s telling people’s stories. That can be a governor, a CEO or a little girl going door to door to help police dogs. Big or small, heart-warming or heart-wrenching, the best stories remind us of what’s important, and that we’re all in this together.
