We have received many calls from readers in the two weeks since we introduced the Greek edition of the paper to the New Era, reducing the number of print editions.

Calls of love, interest and support. Calls that have touched me deeply.

Readers were – almost – crying, on the phone. “I have been a subscriber to ‘Ethnikos Kirikas – the National Herald’ for more than 25 years,” one told me. “I can’t live without the company of the Herald. Raise the price as high as you have to, and we’ll pay you whatever it takes to be able to print the paper every day. The Herald is my companion and my joy.”

I could not articulate any words other than “thank you very much.”

Another phone call: “My elderly friend,” the caller tells me, “doesn’t know how to read you in your online edition on days when you don’t print the paper. Can I print it and give it to him?”

“Of course you can,” I reply. “The newspaper is posted on the website in PDF format. You can download it and print it.

“I know about these kinds of things,” he replies. “I’ll figure it out. He’ll be very happy when I tell him.”

These are good examples of the many phone calls I received. They were all in much the same spirit and tone.

It is not the first time that our readers have deeply touched me and given me and our colleagues the courage and spiritual strength that increases our determination, the sense of responsibility and duty to continue our work.

For decades now we have been receiving similar messages. I believe that there are no readers so attached, so dedicated, and so trusting of a newspaper, so diligent, who make so many sacrifices for it, as the readers of the National Herald.

“I have an ‘addiction’ to “E.K.” – like one has an addiction to drugs,” a reader told me.

And when a reader complains about something, they do it out of love, in order to help the paper.

I have no words to thank you.

Here is a brief recap of the changes we made that has brought the paper into the New Age, first noting that there have been no changes to The National Herald, our English edition, except that it now prints on Fridays instead of Thursdays:

The Greek edition of the paper is published six days a week, as before, but it is printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and on the weekend. The editions are at the newsstands the previous afternoon – as before. For example, the Monday paper comes out on Sunday afternoon, the Wednesday paper on Tuesday afternoon, and the weekend paper on Friday afternoon.

On the other three days, as every day, you will find a complete newspaper edition in digital PDF format, with all the news, ads, etc. on the website of the National Herald – www.ekirikas.com.

We have even dedicated extensive space on the website for classified ads – for death and memorial notices, job openings, ads for buying and selling, etc. that are now read all over the world.

And we are still offering our daily subscribers free access to our online edition for 4 months. Give us a call at (718) 784-5255 to join the email list and/or get a login and password.

Dear friends,

These changes were necessary to secure and protect the future of the newspaper. We would bear a heavy responsibility if we did not make them.

In fact, as some readers rightly commented, we were late in making them after they too had long since transferred their subscriptions to our digital edition.

This decision will enable the National Herald to continue to be the voice of the Diaspora. To inform you with respect and appreciation, authoritatively and objectively for many more years to come.

Thank you!