Once a week, something remarkable happens in homes and coffee shops across our city. People open the Hollister Free Lance and find something no algorithm can replicate: the unfiltered story of their community, told with care, accuracy and local knowledge. I’m writing to you today because that story—your story—depends on your support.
For more than 150 years, the Hollister Free Lance has been the watchdog at City Hall, the megaphone for local businesses and the front-row seat at every school play, championship game and community celebration that makes San Benito County the extraordinary place it is.
We cover the zoning disputes that shape your neighborhood, the school board votes that affect your children and the small business openings that breathe life into our downtown. No national outlet will ever do that—only we will.
Local journalism is not simply “news at a smaller scale.” It is the connective tissue of civic life. When residents know what their elected officials are doing, they engage.
When neighbors read about one another’s struggles and triumphs, they help. When a local business gets coverage, it thrives—and so does the community around it.
The Hollister Free Lance is not just a paper; it is part of what makes us a community rather than just a collection of addresses.
This work is not easy to sustain. Like local newspapers across the country, we face real pressures. Advertising dollars have migrated online. Print costs have risen.
And yet our commitment to San Benito County has never wavered—because we believe in this community and because readers like you have shown us, again and again, that you believe in us.
Today, I’m asking you to make it official. A subscription to the Hollister Free Lance is more than access to news—it is an investment in accountability, in community and in the future of San Benito County. For less than the cost of a cup of coffee each week, you’ll receive:
• Full print and digital access to every edition.
• In-depth reporting on local government, schools and development.
• Coverage of local sports, arts, events and the people who make San Benito County great.
• Our popular weekly community calendar and business features.
• Early access to breaking local news through our website and social media.
To subscribe, visit us at sanbenito.com/subscribe, call our office at 408.842.2327 or email Marie Hicks at mh****@*****ys.com.
San Benito County residents deserve journalism that puts the region first. With your support, that is exactly what we will continue to deliver—every single day.
