My heart overflowed with gratitude as I flipped through our historic Christmas edition. A voluminous 240-page edition in the Greek and a 52-page edition in the English – even amid a pandemic.

And my heart overflowed with gratitude because in this difficult time, many of our advertisers faced a dilemma: should they spend money on printing their holiday well wishes in The National Herald, or use it to pay off some of their debts…

Choosing between the two, they elected to use it for their wishes in The National Herald.

Why did they do it? This is a deep, multifaceted question that we here at the newspaper must first address.

The obvious answer to this question is, of course, that they do it because individual Greek-Americans and those who lead companies, communities, and associations want to financially support The National Herald. They want to contribute to the continuation and progress of this 106-year-old newspaper and its 24-year old English edition because they believe that without it Hellenism in America will be left without a voice and the Community would be an orphan. And they do it because they think it’s worth their support.

So, the conclusion we reach is that The National Herald has won the trust of his readers. That they believe in its work and its mission and they made a sacrifice because they consider it necessary that the newspapers’ mission continue.

This conclusion, of course, excites us. It gives us strength. It animates us – and the feeling that we owe all of you a debt grows. It leads us to try even harder to be worthy of your trust and support. To continue to be Community’s ‘open school’, and one of its successes in a generally difficult time.

We know, as you do, that we are not perfect. That we move within specific economic limits and in a specific demographic space.

But you know that our mistakes are not mistakes of expediency, or mistakes of an agenda foreign to the interests of the Greek-American community.

You know that all of us, management and associates, work with self-sacrifice to be able to publish this phenomenon of a newspaper, The National Herald.

My family and I are grateful that you provide us with the opportunity to publish this newspaper, on all its platforms, print and digital, in Greek and in English.

My family and I are grateful for the colleagues we have, many of whom have been with us for decades. Colleagues who believe in the mission of the newspaper and give their best to achieve this result.

And above all, my family and I are grateful to you – our readers, subscribers, advertisers, Hellenes of America, and more and more the Hellenes all over the world – for your trust.

Merry Christmas!