Dear Friends,
On Wednesday evening, the day after the Robb Elementary mass shooting, my teen came into the living room to ask how my day was, and to make sure the folks I worked with were doing okay. “It was a hard day,” I responded. It says a lot when your kid checks on you. It meant even more since my teen was in first grade when the Sandy Hook tragedy happened. For their generation, lockdown drills and active shooter trainings have been part of normal elementary school life for the past 10 years. They have grown up with the understanding that this type of violence is possible in their school. And indeed, the violence continues.
Tuesday evening, we suspended our fund drive to make room for the evolving news from Texas. We would take the financial hit of not meeting the fundraising goal. Mission first.
Part of WSHU’s mission is to “help us all understand the extraordinary times in which we live.” Our mission statement continues, “we are committed to making our community a better place to live.” These continue to be challenging times for our local communities, and for our country. Our explicit promise to you is to be a source of news and music that informs, inspires, and uplifts. To provide you with meaningful content that empowers you to make informed decisions, celebrates our shared humanity … and that sometimes must make sense of the senseless.
The news from Uvalde presented triggers for our staff members who covered or personally experienced Sandy Hook ten years ago, and for the team currently working on stories to mark 10 years since the Newtown mass shooting. These have been difficult days. On-air hosts who must hear, and read, and re-read the news at every break are having a hard time. Productions folks, administrative staff, development personnel … we are all holding each other up as we continue to do the work, and to make space to grieve, reflect, get angry, heal and refocus. And all of this comes just days after the mass shooting in Buffalo.
As General Manager, I have made sure the WSHU team has access to time off and mental health resources to care for themselves and their families. Rest is just as important as work.
As we head into a long weekend to kick off the summer, I wish you rest, relaxation and meaningful time with family and friends. And I offer you my heartfelt thanks for your continued support and listenership. Your commitment truly makes it possible for us to do what we do.
We are stronger together.
Warmly,
A. Rima Dael
General Manager, WSHU
