The first time I read The Pender Post was more than a decade ago, while on holiday with my then-fiancée, who had spent much of her childhood summers on the Pender Islands.
I was a journalist in Toronto at the time, and it was perhaps professional curiosity that led me to pick up a copy and start reading.
What I found was not unlike the issue you hold today – a beautiful love story about community and social connections, written for our neighbours with an aim on detailing the active heartbeat of life on the islands.
I immediately turned to my partner and announced that I would write for the publication some day. That was 13 years ago. It turns out all I had to do was ask, and they gave me the keys to the whole shop.
I am very excited and incredibly proud to introduce myself as Matthew Coutts, the new president of the Pender Post Society, and editor of this fine publication.
I am almost certainly a stranger to many of our long-time readers. Though I hope not for long. My family has been proud to call Pender home for the past several months, but we have been islanders in our hearts much longer.
My wife grew up with salt water in her veins. Our children have been blessed by the same love of the ocean and are privileged to have spent much of their earliest years among the trees, beaches, and lakes of this natural wonder.
My heart was captured on that first visit, no doubt by the same inarguable majesty. But I was really hooked by the people and the life that had been built here.
It was the volunteers I met on my first trip to the Nu-to-Yu, and the Tru Value cashier when I was asked where I wanted to donate my 1%.
It was people like Annie Smith, my predecessor, who dedicated so much of her time and energy into building something wonderful at The Pender Post Society.
I met Annie only a couple of months ago, when we sat down for a coffee and a chat about volunteering at The Pender Post. As fate would have it, she had decided it was time to step away from the position after four years. And it wasn’t a question of whether I could help, but how much I was willing to help with The Pender Post.
I came away from that conversation with a better understanding of what it takes to make the Pender Islands the place I find so special. It takes passion to invest one’s energy back into the community. And it also takes a far more finite resource: time.
The Pender Post is a testament to this. It is filled with dispatches from groups that rely on neighbours standing up as volunteers, sitting on boards of directors, lending a hand when they can and coming out to attend – and enjoy – events of all kinds.
I am excited to join the fray and as I settle into my new role, I am thankful to the volunteers, staff, and contractors who invest so much of their time and passion into The Pender Post Society.
I celebrate the talent and dedication of everyone who has helped produce our beautiful monthly publication for more than 50 years, and the time they have committed to moving us forward, as our community does the same.
I am thankful to the board members who have been its stewards for decades and hold an encyclopaedic knowledge of both its history and the hard work it takes to make this thing work. And I appreciate the new faces that have more recently joined, ready to step up and contribute their own time and passion.
The next few months will be an exciting time for The Post. We will be unveiling our new website and the groundwork for some fresh and interesting ideas has already been set in place.
I am excited to learn about my new home as we continue to build and grow. Please feel free to message me at president@penderpost.org with any questions, ideas or recommendations – specifically any trails or landmarks I should visit in the days and weeks ahead.