Nanette Whetstone
Soundview

I first came across The Indypendent at WBAI when I went there to pick up a premium. That was five or six years ago. I’ve been reading the paper ever since. 

And now I help distribute it at a library in my community, in the basement laundry room in my apartment building, and in the laundry rooms in other neighboring apartment buildings. 

I want to share what I’m learning from The Indypendent. I learn so much about how people are responding to inequalities — to all the racism, sexism and homophobia. And the writing is so good. I get the meat of what people are feeling. When I have conversations with people who don’t read press like The ­Indypendent, I feel like I’m getting such total misinformation. 

Lew Friedman
Park Slope

I’m a New Yorker. I was born and raised here. I used to distribute underground newspapers in the East Village in the early 1970s. I also used to read the old Guardian newspaper for many years before it crashed in the early 1990s. The ­Indypendent is following in the footsteps of papers like that. 

I’ve been helping out for years as a box steward. I make sure their boxes on Fifth and Seventh avenues stay tidy and have a display copy in the window. When a box gets low, I have extra bundles at my house that I use to restock it. I also drop off the paper at venues in Park Slope where people know me. 

I go to the Park Slope Food Co-op regularly. You can’t put papers out in the co-op, but I always have a few extra copies in my backpack. When I see friends, I make sure they get one. I also take the paper to protests to hand out. People appreciate it because it gives them the information they want. 

Hank Dombrowski
SoHo

I’m an artisanal woodworker and a rent-stabilized tenant who builds things like furniture, tables and bookshelves for people’s homes. My dad worked at a bearing factory in New Britain, Connecticut, and belonged to a union. I remember when he and the other workers would go on strike. My mom was a nurse in a hospital who was hunched over well before retirement from lifting so many patients. This bred an interest in me wanting to know what’s going on with the working class.

When I first came across The ­Indypendent more than 20 years ago,  I felt like I was getting accurate information, and I liked that it was ­local. I also liked that The Indy was not interested in maintaining a docile population of readers.

With the mainstream media, no matter what station you watch or newspaper you pick up, the ways they frame issues seem the same: The stock market went up so the economy is doing great; the U.S. government bombs other countries because we’re fighting for freedom; protesters are annoying troublemakers who deserve whatever the cops do to them. I want media that goes to people who are actually experiencing the issues and talks to them. And The Indy is really good at that. 

I’ve been an Indy box steward in my neighborhood since 2018. I also take papers to the bookstore and the library nearby. I think it’s good to do whatever you can to support organizations that are fighting for your beliefs. 

Over the past few years, I’ve been fixing up Indy news boxes that have been damaged or tagged with stickers and graffiti. For graffiti, I use lacquer-based cleaners or acetone. For stickers, I use ­solvents to dissolve the glue that binds the stickers to the box. To prevent future problems, I put silicone on the windows to make it harder for stickers to stick. 

I fix boxes on the spot when I can. If they need more work, I take them up to my workshop in Connecticut. When I put a refurbished box back on the street, it says, “We’re here. This newspaper is for all of us. And we’re not going away.”

Amanda Vender
Jackson Heights

I’m an adopt-a-box volunteer because it’s a simple way I can contribute to independent journalism in my community, where I work as a public school teacher. The boxes in my neighborhood are located in areas I often pass by: the library and the post office. I check them and make sure they look attractive and clean and that they’re filled only with Indys. If there’s an issue of special importance to my community, I help get extra bundles out in the neighborhood.

Like so much of New York City, mine is a neighborhood of working people and many immigrants. The Indy is the paper that speaks to our issues without corporate influence. The Indy validates the experiences of working people and contributes to building a grassroots movement for social justice.

If you walk or bike in your neighborhood, please consider becoming an adopt-a-box volunteer so that more people have free access to The Indy.

The Indypendent is a New York City-based newspaper, website and weekly radio show. All of our work is made possible by readers like you. During this holiday season, please consider making a recurring or one-time donation today or subscribe to our monthly print edition and get every copy sent straight to your home.