VOLUNTEER HIGHLIGHT:
Peace Newsletter Workers

SPC has been publishing the Peace Newsletter (PNL) since it was founded in 1936. The PNL is one of the most important tools we have for educating, organizing and agitating. You might never imagine how many people or how many hours of work it takes to get each issue of the PNL out to readers each month. SPC staff does some of this work, but SPC volunteers – whose names often appear on page 2 of each issue, also do plenty.

Three longtime SPC activists, John Fitzsimmons, Ed Kinane and Rae Kramer serve on the PNL editorial committee. It meets 3-4 times each month to make decisions about content, editing and layout, brainstorm ideas for articles and authors, set a publishing schedule, evaluate submissions, etc. This committee also takes primary responsibility for relating to authors, editing submissions, and finding graphics for each issue. Each committee members spends at least several hours a month working on PNL related tasks.

Angela Manciocchi works many hours each month to compile the community calendar featured on the back page of each issue. This task requires attention to detail and careful proofing to ensure dates and times are listed correctly! We also have a new volunteer working on the layout of the PNL. Derek Currie has been contributing his design and layout skills to package our content into a readable and attractive format. Andy Molloy, Deb Douthit and Pat Finley proofread each issue before it is sent to the printer – a task that is almost always done during the weekend. Their scrutiny ensures that you won’t have to suffer through typos, incorrect page numbers, or other confusing errors.

Once the PNL is printed, several people help prepare it for mailing and distribution. On the last Thursday of each month, Val Smith picks up the newsletter from the printer in the morning and does the cutting to trim the newsletter to its final size at the SPC office. Herm Bieling, Gary Bonaparte and Sam Feld have often done this task as well. On Thursday afternoon, several longtime SPC supporters and new volunteers prepare almost 900 copies for mailing. Evy Kennenwood, Rita Gabaccia, Carl Mellor, Jim Weidman, Marge Rusk, Dave Griola, John Yorks, Tom Callahan, and Julienne Oldfield often spend a couple hours stamping, stapling, labeling, bagging, and delivering the PNL to the post office. Many others stop in to help with this as well. The repetitive labor of the mailing party is always made more interesting by the conversation and interesting thoughts that shared.

Thanks to everyone who works so hard to produce and distribute the PNL each month!