Friends of the Tribune: Working to Keep News Choices

Eighty-six years ago, when the Albuquerque Tribune began publishing as a daily newspaper in Albuquerque they wrote:

“The mission of the Albuquerque Tribune is to inform the community. Our allegiance is to the reader. Our commitment is to the truth. Our job is to question. Our ambition is to
provide a forum through which this city becomes a better place to live."
The newspaper was put up for sale on August 28, 2007, by the current owners,
E.W.Scripps. Readers, concerned that an important voice in the community would
be silenced, formed Friends of The Tribune {FOAT} to secure the future of
the newspaper. Now an incorporated nonprofit with a 501(c)(3) umbrella, the
group has progressed to enlisting the help of the Newspaper Guild-CWA, the premier national labor organization representing journalists and other newspaper workers in the industry. The Guild is experienced in examining the kind of situation we are facing here in Albuquerque and is knowledgeable about many options, including ESOP's [Employee Stock Ownership Plans], cooperatives and non-profit structures. Most recently the Guild has explored these ideas at papers that were formerly Knight-Ridder and Tribune Company owned.

Pumpkin Bread for the Homeless

After reading “Uncle Willies Soup Kitchen” we learned about soup kitchens and that “1 out of every 8 people in the United States of America is poor and many of them are children.” Because we read this book, students from MRGC decided to recycle Halloween pumpkins into pumpkin bread for the homeless people. Once the pumpkin meat was baked and boiled down, the Co-op donated supplies to complete this project. Brett said, “It was extremely hard when we mashed the pumpkin meat.” In late November, students from Ms. Lauren’s 4th and 5th grade class, and Ms. Salima’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders went to the Co-op to pick up the supplies needed to bake the pumpkin bread. The co-op was generous to donate necessary
supplies. Soon after, our classes started making the pumpkin bread. Ashlee said, “It was hard cracking the eggs.” We baked the pumpkin bread in the teachers’ lounge. We set a goal with Ms. Salima’s class to bake 121 loaves by the end of January. We exceeded our goal by baking 144 loaves by January 14. On Monday, February 4th, the 4th and 5th graders went to
the Albuquerque Rescue Mission to deliver the pumpkin bread to the homeless. Students grew from this experience. They learned that there are all sorts of people in the world, and sometimes some of these people need a little bit of help. Here are some quotes from my peers: Daniel: “It is good that we are doing this project because they (homeless people) have nothing to eat.” Mr. Ben: “This is a great way to give back to people.” Max: “This is good since the homeless people don’t have a kitchen and they can’t cook.”