By Nick Reiher

There are many good reasons to have a countywide community newspaper, even in these uncertain times for the Fourth Estate.

Farmers Weekly Review is able to offer you a good dose of agriculture news to remind you farmers in Will County still have a major impact here, in the state, the nation and the globe, even as warehouses and other signs of “progress” eat up the soil.

We bring you cool stories from all parts of the county – old mills in Peotone, Giants in Wilmington and the renaissance of the County Seat’s Downtown.

But in my 13-plus years at the helm here, I rarely have been more proud and humbled as when my friend and fellow Kiwanian, Ken Guldenbecker, asked if Farmers Weekly Review would be willing to partner on a fundraising campaign for the fall.

Ken is Development Director for United Way of Will County. They have partnered for years with the Herald News on its Herald Angels holiday fundraising campaign. Now, he said, they wanted to expand the reach to raise more funds.

We call it “Harvest of Hope.” Proud of my transient creativity, I am not proud to say we had to resort to an increasingly popular social media platform I would rather not name. But some confuse it with a steak sauce.

This is not United Way being greedy. The organization supports many agencies – large and small – in Will County, as you may have seen in the October 16 edition of Farmers Weekly Review that announced our partnership.

In Fiscal Year 2025 alone, programs facilitated or supported by United Way of Will County reached 157,927 people who are friends, families and neighbors right here in Will County. And the need was even greater this year.

“Harvest of Hope donations help United Way of Will County support 70 essential programs across 43 local nonprofits and sustain key initiatives like the 211 Helpline, connecting neighbors in need to community resources,” said Ken in the October 16 story.

In considering grant requests from so many agencies, United Way officials here in Will County consider whether those groups have other funding sources. In other words, how much are they counting on the grant request.

As these are tough times, with grants of all sorts drying up – with no end in sight — the need is expected to grow. So, any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

We tried to make it as easy as possible for you to donate. I even did it!

As the graphic online and in the paper says, you can scan the QR code, which will take you to the Harvest of Hope donation site. Or you can send a check to United Way of Will County, 54 N. Ottawa St., Suite 300, Joliet, IL 60432.

Please put “Harvest of Hope” in the memo line of the checks, so they know which fund it will go toward.

You also can go online to our website – fwrnews.com – and click on the Harvest of Hope graphic, which will take you to the donation site.

We are not set up to receive donations at the Farmers Weekly Review office. But if you see me out and about, and you want to give me a check made out as above, I will gladly make sure Ken gets it at the office.

We will be running the Harvest of Hope campaign through Thanksgiving. I hope you will consider gleaning out your pockets — or maybe using some of your “first cut” — to help so many agencies that help so many others.

Your donation stays in Will County.

Thank you for your consideration. Here’s to us all being partners in helping others have a chance to grow and thrive.

Nick Reiher is editor of Farmers Weekly Review.