Editorial
We're Recruiting...

At the bottom of this page we list, as usual, the names of the many individuals whose volunteer work makes this publication possible. Without their collective good-spirited effort, The WIRE would not exist.

But we need more help, and there's a role to fit almost every talent or willingness to dig in and do a bit. It is said that most people will help with a community effort of this kind if they are simply asked. We can't reach every potential source of help personally, so we rely on this general invitation and ask that you take it personally.

Advertising Sales: Ellen Levy has been a mainstay for this newspaper for over a dozen years, in the often-thankless task of selling space in the newspaper and, now, insertions in The Bag. But The WIRE is constantly stuck in the no-man's land between four pages of ads (which pay for an 8-page issue) and not-quite-six pages of ads. (This issue's an example.) When we have the good luck of enough advertising to fill six pages, that not only funds a 12-page edition, but allows us to pay something on a longstanding back debt at our printer. Ellen covers the Island and is responsible for most of the Manhattan and Queens ads that appear here, but she needs help - someone to sell in the Queens/Manhattan areas that have businesses that could benefit from exposure to the Roosevelt Island audience.

Reporting and Feature Writing: If you have journalistic skills or would like to develop them, this Island is a treasure chest of marvelous feature stories and of news that often goes uncovered for lack of two key resources: writers and space. As we inch toward more regular 12-page issues, we'll need the writers who can distill the essence of a news event, analyze a trend, or capture the essence of a personality or organization in a feature story.

Photography: Margery Rubin has signed on as The WIRE's Chief Photographer, but there are Island events that she just can't get to. There'll be room for more photography as we increase the paper's size, but many photos that don't make it into print are used, instead, in The WIRE's expanded coverage on Website NYC10044 (www.nyc10044.com). Supplementary color coverage of last weekend's African-American Heritage Month celebration is an example of that.

Distribution: The Islanders who deliver The WIRE to every residential door on the Island provide a valuable service in two ways. They make sure the news gets out. But they also increase the paper's value to advertisers, who can be confident their ad is more likely to be seen by potential customers.

Stuffing: Inserts, like the Trade Fair flyer accompanying almost every issue of The WIRE, are an important source of revenue that allows the occasional increase in page count even when the space sales within the newspaper don't quite support it. On WIRE Fridays, a group of stalwart helpers gather to do the stuffing and then have lunch together (it's provided). It's fun, and we often need another helper or two.

Most of this work is volunteer. Advertising sales are commissioned, because they wouldn't happen otherwise, and as we increase our ad sales we're trying to pay writers' and photographers' expenses and, occasionally, a small stipend that at least allows them to say they've been paid for their work.

The WIRE is in its 20th year - among the Island's oldest volunteer efforts. If you'd like more information, or to sign on, just call: For Distribution and Stuffing. call George Rubin at 935-6043 or Sherie Helstien at 935-7534; for everything else, call Dick Lutz at 826-9055. In all cases, leave your number if nobody's in, and we'll get back to you.

DL