This is where you make Vero Beach 32963 your community newspaper, and we reward you for your support.

For the past four years, we have delivered Vero Beach 32963 free each Thursday to every home on the barrier island, relying exclusively on the support of our loyal advertisers to pay the bills.

But if we are to continue expanding our professional team (now at 17 fulltime employees -- 15 more than any other island weekly), providing you with the comprehensive news coverage of our special community that you want, relying exclusively on advertising revenue is not going to get us all the way there.

So we have decided to embrace the public broadcasting model, asking readers who tell us they value Vero Beach 32963's professional reporting -- who recognize the critical role we play in monitoring and, as needed, challenging local governments and other institutions -- to help us expand our role as the watchdog that is otherwise missing from our community.

Our hope is many of you will put a bit of money where your heart and mind are, and make your weekly paper "My32963." If you really view Vero Beach 32963 as your paper, please sign up here on My32963.com to make either a recurring monthly credit card contribution of $10 or more, or an annual contribution.  Think of it as a "voluntary subscription."

Why should you pay money for something you now get for free? Good question. Afterall, we do not require subscriptions. Vero Beach 32963 will still be mailed each week to every home, whether you contribute or not.

But like public broadcasting, we are asking those of you who can afford it to acknowledge the value and cost of quality journalism. And you not only can pledge your support here, but in the weeks and months ahead, this site will be where you find out about the special benefits we plan to provide for supporters of My32963.

Benefits ranging from My32963 tote bags and golf caps, to special online access to stories, restaurant reviews and special deals, free theater tickets, special offers from our advertisers only for My32963 supporters, and special opportunities to meet with our publisher, editors, reporters, and leading newsmakers.

To learn more about the various levels at which you can become a supporter of Vero Beach 32963, which start at a low $10 "voluntary subscription" monthly, and the special benefits, please click here. And regardless of what level you choose, thank you so much for making your barrier island newsweekly My32963.

Milton R. Benjamin, Publisher