Christmas greetings from Squirrel News - Squirrel News

Christmas greetings from Squirrel News

Dear readers, friends, and Squirrel community,

A turbulent and dramatic year is coming to an end, and we all want to put that behind us as soon as possible. But even though it was a very difficult year overall, it was also an exciting and positive one for us – because it was the year Squirrel News made an appearance.

Despite challenging circumstances, we managed to set up a solid editorial routine, build a wonderful, ever-growing team – all the while reaching more and more people, who we hope we can give something useful, exciting and meaningful to.

We’re very lucky that we’ve been able to work remotely since March with relative ease. The fact that we started with essentially zero budget has also helped us ride out this strange situation (you don’t have to worry about the rent for the office if you don’t have one!). As our team is made up of dedicated volunteers, we’ve luckily not had to reduce the payroll or cut anyone’s job.

Digital team meeting with the Squirrel News crew

Nevertheless, we’re very happy and grateful that not only do we have so many readers (we recently hit 8,000!), but also that an increasing number of you support us and our work through donations. Of course, in the long run, not all of us can work on a voluntary basis – and donations are the best way for us to cover our costs.

Over the course of the next few days, we’ll cut back our production a little (from three to two issues per week) because of the holidays. At the same time, we’ll compile what we consider to be some of the solutions-oriented news highlights of the past year. We know that so many of you – ourselves included – won’t be spending the holidays as you’d originally planned, but we hope that our work acts as a small reminder that the world isn’t so full of doom and gloom all the time.

Next year we hope to continue with the same energy – even if lockdown, homeschooling and closed daycare centres don’t necessarily offer the best conditions for this (but we’re used to a lot by now). As notorious optimists, we still don’t see 2021 as the year that begins with the lockdown, but rather the year in which the pandemic (or the worst of it, at least) finally passes. Sooner or later, there’ll be room again for other topics, thoughts, occupations and, above all, for normal human contact.

Until then, hang in there and – of course – stay healthy!

Happy holidays,

Jonathan, Elizabeth and the Squirrel News team