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Year-End Fund Drive: Thank You for Your Support!
Obituaries | The Tube City Almanac | December 21, 2019
This is a time of year when people give thanks --- and on behalf of our board, volunteers and contributors, I want to thank each of you.
Several months ago, Tube City Community Media's websites hit a milestone I never thought we'd reach --- we had 10 million hits in a single calendar year. It's undoubtedly higher now.
When we launched this obituary service a few days after the McKeesport Daily News closed, we promised never to turn away any family for lack of ability to pay for a death notice, and we promised to keep it free of charge for readers. We are keeping that promise.
But to keep Tube City Almanac online, we do need your financial support.
We try not to ask for money all the time --- and we run only two fund drives, one in the summer and this one at the end of the year.
Tube City Community Media Inc. is an IRS 501(c)(3) charity and is eligible for tax-deductible donations.
If you are financially able, and would like to make a gift, please consider doing so.
Donations may be made by check or money order to:
Tube City Community Media Inc.
P.O. Box 94
McKeesport PA 15134
Or via PayPal at: http://www.tubecityonline.com/contact/
We are especially grateful to Scott Finney and his team at Finney Funeral Homes for their steadfast and generous support, and to Chris Odasso and his team at Willig Funeral Home and Jaycox-Jaworski Funeral Home for their continued support.
We also are grateful to the G.C. Murphy Co. Foundation and the E.R. Crawford Estate Trust Fund for their grants that have provided us with a stable base of operations for the past few years.
We are hoping we can grow again in 2020, and we look forward to continuing to provide you, and McKeesport-area residents, with this service.
Best wishes for a safe holiday and successful new year!
Sincerely,
Jason Togyer
Executive Director and Board Member
Tube City Community Media Inc.
Why are we asking for money?
When we launched the McKeesport Obituaries website on the day after the Daily News closed, we promised to make sure the site was free to the readers, and we didn't want to charge funeral homes for posting obituaries.
We did that for two reasons --- we know that many people in the Mon Valley are on fixed incomes; and we also know that many people are cutting back on funerals, which is hurting funeral professionals.
We are NOT going back on those promises, and we do make some income on Google Advertising --- about $3 per day --- but it's not enough for us to grow, or even build up any kind of a fund for expansion.
What will you use the money for?
We use any donations collected to beef up our news coverage in the McKeesport, Duquesne, North Versailles Twp. and White Oak areas. We have recently added some coverage of West Newton and Liberty Borough.
We also operate the only 24-hour, volunteer-run Internet radio station in the Mon Valley, and we are programming content that ranges from local talk shows, to big band music, to bluegrass and country music, to soul, to new rock and roll.
But our equipment is old, and much of it is going to be due for replacement, sooner rather than later. We need a contingency fund for when the inevitable break-downs happen. Music royalties keep increasing as well.
We also have been lucky to receive funding from three local foundations, but each of them have told us we can't rely on getting our entire budget from them each year.
Disclaimer: We are not tax advisors and this email does not constitute tax advice. To determine whether or not a donation is tax-deductible, please consult a tax professional. You may obtain our charitable organization information at
http://www.guidestar.org/PartnerReport.aspx?ein=26-4497864&Partner=Demo
Photo: Jen Collins via Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic.
Originally published December 21, 2019.
Other deaths:
"George T. Gerdich" || "Karl Van Scott Jr."