When readers across New Hampshire clicked “donate,” mailed checks or dropped contributions off at local newsrooms this fall, most weren’t thinking about fundraising totals or matching formulas. They were thinking about school board meetings, town budgets, lake health, housing shortages — and the reporters who keep showing up to cover them.

That collective show of support has added up. Partners in the Granite State News Collaborative have raised more than $77,000 to support local newsrooms across the state through a coordinated fundraising campaign that combines community donations with national matching funds.

These types of campaigns have been instrumental in helping local news organizations sustain and sometimes even grow their reporting capacity.

“Since the pandemic days of 2020, news consumers across the state have been incredibly generous to their local news organizations,” said Monitor publisher Steve Leone, who is also a board member of the Granite State News Collaborative. “Many of the same people give year after year because I think they see that the money is being put to good use by the partner news organizations across the state.”

The shared donation drive marks another way that news organizations that have competed fiercely for generations have, in recent years, found ways to work together in support of readers in our state.

“The newscape in New Hampshire is constantly shifting, as are people’s news consumption habits,” said Carol Robidoux, editor and publisher of the Ink Link News Group. “Anything we can do collectively as professional journalists to reinforce the enduring value of journalism in the context of a vibrant and connected community is important to us as a news organization.”

You can donate to the Ledger-Transcript, any other partner news organization and the Collaborative itself by visiting the donation page on ledgertranscript.com.

As of this week, the overall campaign has generated nearly $60,000 in direct contributions from readers and supporters, with additional matching funds bringing the total to $77,848.59 so far. The fundraiser runs through midnight on Dec. 31, and additional matching dollars may still be unlocked before it closes.

The campaign is part of the New Hampshire Community News Fund, a shared initiative created by the Granite State News Collaborative to help strengthen local journalism across the state. GSNC is a nonprofit journalism collaborative that brings together newsrooms, higher education institutions, and community partners to support local reporting, share resources, and build sustainable models for news in New Hampshire.

“At its core, this campaign is about people showing up for the newsrooms that show up for them,” the Granite State News Collaborative said in a statement. “Local news is deeply personal. It’s about your town, your school board, your neighbors. Seeing people support this work — not just one outlet, but many — is incredibly meaningful.”

A shared approach to fundraising

Rather than running separate, competing appeals, participating outlets took part in a coordinated campaign supported by shared messaging, marketing tools, and fundraising infrastructure produced by GSNC. Donations came in both online and offline, and were then amplified through matching programs, including national journalism initiatives such as NewsMatch.

For local editors, the campaign’s success has been both affirming and instructive.

“I’m blown away by the support for this campaign, and humbled that many of our readers have given to sustain local journalism,” said Julie Hirshan Hart, editor of the Laconia Daily Sun. “It shows not only that people are reading and consuming local news, but that they place real value on the work we do.”

Robidoux, who is a founding partner of GSNC, said the response reflects a shift in how audiences think about trust.

“What seemed to start as a broad distrust in ‘the media’ has turned into something more specific — people questioning which sources are real, trustworthy, and human-driven,” she said. “The success of this campaign tells me that New Hampshire readers are ready to be more discerning, and that ‘local’ really matters.”

Supporting local reporting

Funds raised through the campaign are distributed back to participating outlets based on donor intent, giving each newsroom flexibility to address its most pressing needs.

At the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, all support we receive will go directly to our “Preserving Our Region” Solutions Journalism project.  This year-long effort will spotlight towns, businesses, and residents across the Monadnock region who are making a positive environmental impact. Each story will focus on everyday people achieving real, evidence-backed results — solutions that are practical, replicable, and inspiring. Our goal is to show what’s possible and motivate action to protect what makes this region so special. Support for the project will fund the editorial time and effort needed to produce these stories and share them as widely as possible. In addition to the reporting, the project includes a youth environmental initiative and a contest aimed at sparking new ideas.

For smaller outlets, Robidoux said the added financial stability can be critical.

“Most local news organizations operate with very little margin for error,” she said. “Having even a short runway helps us weather the unpredictables that, unfortunately, can mean shutting down a news operation.”

For the Granite State News Collaborative, the campaign’s impact extends beyond the final tally.

“This is a reminder that people still care deeply about having trustworthy, local reporting in their lives,” the Collaborative said. “When newsrooms work together — and when communities are invited into the process — local journalism can still thrive.”

The fundraiser runs through midnight on Dec. 31.

Participating partners include Business NH Magazine, Concord Monitor, Granite State News Collaborative, Laconia Daily Sun, Manchester Ink Link, Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, NH Business Review, NHPBS, NHPR, Nashua Ink Link, and Valley News.

Melanie Plenda is the Executive Director of the Granite State News Collaborative. To learn more about the NH Community News Fund collaborativenh.org/support-the-gsnc.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. Don’t just read this. Share it with one person who doesn’t usually follow local news — that’s how we make an impact. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Mason Hriczov, one of New Jersey’s top goalie prospects, had to shrug off thoughts on his sub-par performance, by his standards, at one of the most important camps of his career.

He attended four camps overall over a span of four months last summer and the journey took him to Buffalo, Omaha and Ontario.

All that camp exposure was a result of Hriczov’s getting drafted by two leagues and receiving an invitation to USA Hockey’s annual development camps.

In April, Hriczov was selected by the Kitchener Rangers in the 13^th round, 262^nd overall, in the Ontario Hockey League draft. The OHL is one of the three preeminent junior leagues in Canada that make up the Canadian Hockey League and is a major feeder to NCAA Division 1 programs and the NHL draft.

Just a few weeks later, in May, he was picked by the Omaha Lancers in the seventh round, 104^th overall, in the United States Hockey League draft, which is the United States’ equivalent to the CHL.

There were serious options in front of him to weigh.

“Hockey’s getting real at this point. That was the first summer I took it very seriously,” he said. “I locked in. It’s a lot, but you just gotta push through it, I guess. You gotta love it. You just gotta play your best, every time, going to camps. Scouts are watching.”

The junior attended rookie camp in Kitchener not long after being drafted in May. USHL camp in Omaha followed in June. Then came the National U16 Camp for USA Hockey in Buffalo at the end of June before his first full training camp back in Kitchener in August.

“It was a lot of games, some practices,” Hriczov said of the U.S. development camp. “It’s great competition. It’s some of the best kids who didn’t make the national team, and guys have to work. A lot of scouts there. There were games I don’t think I played my best, but you just gotta work.”

Players from the National U16 Camp were chosen to play for the United States U17 Select Team that participates in the annual Four Nations Tournament every summer.

Hriczov didn’t make the cut.

“After that camp, I was like, I’m going to the gym every day. I put on a lot of muscle. I put on a lot of size,” he said. “When I went to rookie camp for Kitchener, they told me, you gotta get bigger. I kind of waited until after USA camp. I didn’t get to make the cut and I felt I just gotta take off now. And that’s what I did.”

Hriczov doesn’t like to remember bad things on the ice and loves forgetting about them. He kept that experience at the USA camp in the back of his mind, but he went straight to work. He had roughly seven weeks to make a plan and go on attack to make a strong showing at camp with Kitchener in late August.

All of the work added about 15 pounds to his 6’2” frame. Hriczov had reason to believe the team only wanted to keep him around for a cursory look at camp before sending him home. Hriczov was determined to make things go another way.

Once he hit the ice, he put on a show.

“Going up there was great. I go up there, play a great couple games. They tell me you’re going to stay for the week.” Hriczov said. “They had no intentions of keeping me, but I played, worked my butt off and got to stay there for the week and (then) they’re like, ‘We’re going to keep you for preseason. You did really good. We weren’t going to keep you after the first couple of days.’ So, I had a big summer.”

He wasn’t going to be the team’s starting goalie, or the backup, but his performance at training camp helped Hriczov make key moves up the depth chart for Kitchener. He is now next in line after the backup goalie, should anything happen. It almost became the best of both worlds for the time being. He can jump to Kitchener should he be needed and he returned to New Jersey for the 2025-26 season.

Hriczov still gets ample playing time with the Woodbridge Wolfpack U16 AAA team and the Morristown-Beard team welcomed him back with open arms.

After a whirlwind of a summer, the star junior still juggles playing club and high school hockey and the prospect of being called up to the OHL hovers above his head on a daily basis. For some, that might be too much to handle, but not for Hriczov.

“It’s great. They’re always watching you. The goalie coach (Jordan DeKort) is telling me, he’s always watching me. Just got to bring your A game every day. It’s great going up there, it’s fun. Kids are great, coaches are great, just got to enjoy it.”

In four games with Morristown-Beard so far this season, Hriczov owns a stellar .943 save percentage and also has a pair of assists.

He’s already one of the top goaltenders in the state. Now, he has a chip on his shoulder and that’s been bad news for everyone else in the Mennen Division and could mean the same for the Non-Public bracket once the state tournament rolls around.

“I think it’s been good. I mean, I think I could do better for club but I’m doing really well right now,” he said. “I have high expectations here for Mo-Beard, so I just got to live up to them.”

Multiple Winter Storm Warnings are in effect across the Northeast U.S. from the afternoon of December 26 through the late morning or early afternoon of December 27.

Warnings cover much of the region from northeastern Pennsylvania through northern New Jersey, southeastern New York, and southern Connecticut.

The warning is in effect from 16:00 EST on December 26 until 13:00 EST on December 27 for New York City’s five boroughs, Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island, and Fairfield, Westchester, Rockland, and Bergen Counties.

For northern and southern New Haven Counties, Connecticut, the warning begins slightly later, from 19:00 EST on December 26 to 13:00 EST on December 27.

In northeastern Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey, including Monroe, Warren, Sussex, and Morris Counties, warnings remain in effect from 13:00 EST on December 26 until 10:00 EST on December 27. These areas may experience a combination of snow and sleet, with local ice accumulations in elevated terrain.

Farther north, in the Catskills, mid-Hudson Valley, and Litchfield County, Connecticut, are under warnings from 16:00 EST on December 26 until 13:00 EST on December 27.

Snow will begin spreading from southwest to northeast during the afternoon and intensify through the evening. Peak snowfall rates may reach 2.5–5 cm (1–2 inches) per hour at times.

Snowfall totals of 13–23 cm (5–9 inches) are forecast across the New York City area, Long Island, southern New York, and southern Connecticut.

Meanwhile, Albany, Ulster, Greene, Dutchess, and Litchfield Counties are forecast to receive around 13–25 cm (5–10 inches) of snowfall.

Snow totals are forecast to reach 10–20 cm (4–8 inches) in northern New Jersey, and northeastern Pennsylvania, with localized totals of over 20 cm (8 inches) being possible for higher elevation areas.

The heavy snow and winter weather will create dangerous travel conditions across major routes, including Interstates 80,87,95, and 287, through the warning period.

The snowfall is expected to begin tapering off by the morning of December 27 as the storm moves out into the Atlantic.

References:

¹ Winter Storm Warning – NWS – December 26, 2025