Submitted by Timbergram Committee

Dear Readers,

Happy New Year! We hope that 2022 is off to a wonderful start for everyone.

We’ll get right to it: the Timbergram committee is in need of help inorder to continue its operations.

Our current volunteer resources will be moving on to new roles within the Civic Club in 2022, and unless we find new volunteers to take over, this January issue will be the last one we produce in print format.

Please reach out to timbergram@timbergrove.org if you’d like to learn more. The next regularly scheduled print issue is typically distributed in March, and we’re looking to onboard new volunteers in early February. We hope to see that happen!

We know the printed newsletter is a beloved part of our neighborhood communications—and is essential to our residents who are not online. We don’t want to see it go away, but it doesn’t happen without a labor of love by a group of dedicated volunteers.

For more than a decade, the Timbergram has been the Civic Club’s primary source of communicating with the neighborhood about all things: upcoming social events and general meetings for the membership; security news and statistics; updates from Sinclair Elementary; developments at our nearby parks; environmental and area development news —and so much more!

Below we have broken down the details of what goes into producing the Timbergram in hopes that some will be encouraged to get involved in a small way. You could be part of a committee of individuals that can make the whole production happen!

Advertising

The newsletter benefits from a dedicated, core group of regular advertisers, and occasionally a handful of “seasonal” advertisers. All are local businesses to the Timbergrove Manor neighborhood. For each issue, a volunteer(s) conducts email outreach to all advertisers to confirm their participation in the issue, follows up for their artwork by the deadline, organizes received the artwork for layout, and manages invoicing to ensure timely payments are made. For each issue, advertising management takes about 3-4 hours of time total.

Editorial

For each issue, a volunteer(s) conducts email outreach to a core group of contacts to solicit news from across Civic Club committees and local/city organizations: activities, beautification, environmental, membership, security, Sinclair, SNC-14 (Super Neighborhood 14), and more. The volunteer(s) follows up to receive submissions by the deadline. Each issue may vary in the number of editorial submissions. The volunteer(s) will organize and send all submitted content to our printer to be put into layout. For each issue, editorial management takes about 3-4 hours of time total.

Layout

Until now, the Editorial manager has also been responsible for the layout design of the newsletter. This requires a bit of a specialized skill, and knowledge of and access to publishing software. Realizing this may limit our volunteer search, the Committee has secured a vendor to handle the newsletter layout going forward. The cost will be covered by a combination of Civic Club funds and advertising revenue. If we find a volunteer(s) who is skilled in publishing layout, they would be welcome to manage this part of the process.

Distribution & Delivery

Once the issue is printed, boxes of flat newsletters are delivered to a volunteer to be prepared for distribution to the neighborhood. Each copy is folded in half, and issues are organized into groups by block. The volunteer maintains a signup system and a distribution list of dozens of delivery volunteers. If not all blocks are claimed, the volunteer liaises with Block Captains to try to arrange for a volunteer to deliver the remaining blocks. Our delivery volunteers then hand-deliver issues to the front doors of every home in Timbergrove Manor Sections 5-14.

For each issue, Distribution takes about 3-4 hours of time, and Delivery takes about 30 minutes per block delivered. If you have previously signed up to deliver Timbergrams, you will remain on the email list for future opportunities! This opportunity is also great for kids who need service hours.

Ready to Get Involved?

We are looking forward to meeting with volunteers soon to discuss next steps. If you’re interested in helping out, please drop us a line: