It seems like everyone is doing a food drive these days, in part because the need is so great. But we don’t want your cans, just your affection.

If you talk to anyone who is on the front lines of the battle against hunger here in the Tri-State, they will tell you that all this and more is needed as more people than ever before are seeking assistance.

Countless organizations, church groups, businesses and individuals have stepped up this holiday season to try to make a difference.

The Tribune wants to do its part — and expand its reach to readers at the same time.

Unless you have been living on another planet for the past five years or so, you know that social media is becoming more important than ever.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others are a way to reach an audience almost immediately and disseminate information very quickly. For a newspaper, this is vitally important.

The recent situation where an Ironton teenager was missing perfectly illustrates the power of social media. Within just a few hours of the child being reported missing The Tribune had her photograph, description and other information about the situation online. By using Facebook, Twitter, e-mail alerts and other media formats, thousands of people knew what was going on and the status of the search at a time when the newspaper was still hours from going to press and many people wouldn’t have known to visit the website.

This will ultimately be a strong component of newspapers’ future. Providing the content online — and finding ways to generate revenue from it — is certainly vital, but another layer is how to immediately deliver that information to readers and those who maybe should be readers but just don’t know it.

That is where social media can be a tremendous asset. It really is much like a food drive, as the goal is reaching a large group of people and addressing a need.

With that in mind, we want your help to grow our reach. And in turn we will help fill the pantries of local agencies that fight hunger.

Visit The Tribune and Tri-State Living on Facebook and Twitter. “Like” us or “follow” us. For everyone one we gain through the end of the year, The Tribune will donate 25 cents to a local organization fighting hunger.

The funds will be split between Ironton’s Downtown Churches Food Pantry, the Chesapeake Community Outreach and the Huntington Area Food Bank. This approach will help spread out the benefit geographically and benefit as many people as possible.

And, in the end, it will help The Tribune quickly inform the community when it matters most.

Putting food on the table and information at your fingertips are both goals worth driving toward.

 

Michael Caldwell is publisher of The Tribune. To reach him, call (740) 532-1445 ext. 24 or by e-mail at mike.caldwell@irontontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeCaldwell_IT.