+Erik 1,812 Posted December 25, 2020 Hello and Happy Happy Holidays to everyone, I wanted to take a moment and wish you all a blessed holiday season with happiness and health for you and your family throughout the new year to come in 2021. It's times like these that we look back in amazement and disbelief of the times we're living in. 2020 was hard on everyone and if things could go wrong it went wrong in 2020 with Corona Virus and Politics being front and center here in the United States. We've now spent months away from family and friends in isolation as we have learned to live in our new normal. These are unprecedented times that I for one will never be happier to put behind us. 2020 was especially hard for businesses and I feel fortunate that CA survived for now. Over all our donations last year brought in $615 to offset operating costs, thank you to all who helped out. Our advertising dwindled to almost nothing, specifically we received 28% of what we made in 2019 for advertising income as advertisers ran from expenses and businesses failed. Our subscriptions saw the lowest year on record and our cost of doing business went up 9.5% in July as costs of failing businesses got passed on to those of us who remained. This was definitely the year not to remember yet still with all the horror and red ink we consider ourselves lucky to still be standing. Yes it was bad for CA but there are many of us who saw worse times this year. People stood in voting lines and food lines here in America during a pandemic for the first time ever. We lost loved ones around the globe as we were divided with fear and misinformation. Jobs and businesses were lost all over our countries leaving tomorrow uncertain for many but throughout it all in a weird way we found some humanity. We reached out and helped where we could and lifted lives and spirits, I hope that continues. In the spirit of giving this season CA will be donating to Feeding America, Covenant House BC, The Trussell Trust UK, Banques Alimentaires FR, Tafel Deutschland, Leket Israel, and UNICEF to help feed those who need the assistance this winter. I wish we could do more but we're hoping doing our small part contributing to the whole is what matters. Merry Christmas everyone, E 18 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+russouk2004 6,958 Posted December 25, 2020 or forget lol... happy new year all...hopefully 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KJakker 901 Posted December 25, 2020 I find that I do have something to be thankful for 2020. It made me reach out and get back in touch with and old collage friend who lives in Italy. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JosefK 911 Posted December 26, 2020 I sincerely apologize for the times my subscription has lapsed this year... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nesher 628 Posted December 27, 2020 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our Christian friends around the world! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jjlehto 15 Posted December 28, 2020 I'm 42, and I can say I've seen some in my life; probably more than most of the ppl my age. But no doubt, this 2020 is gonna stay among the "highlights", probably forever (well, at least, hopefully not, it doesn't become the first event of some tough series, which we aren't going to know until some years). Although I don't always necessarily agree with the ideas of the relevant ppl of this site, I can say for sure, that you words are honest and true - unlike most of the billions of words wasted nowadays in this age of social medias and instant information (whether it's real information or most commonly, just debris). And let me tell you just this: I'm happy this site exists. Best wishes for the new year to you and your family, and to all the members of this community. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PFunk 198 Posted December 31, 2020 Hope everyone had a good Christmas. Wish everyone a better new year. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
