An introduction to Hometownstories.org

(Great news: Paid subscriptions go directly toward helping needy children, families, and the homeless in Bristol. Bless you for subscribing!)

You are hereby extended a personal invitation from me. 😊

Since retiring from a five-year stint of writing an award-winning weekly newspaper column for the Bristol Herald-Courier, literally hundreds of friends have asked me if I would continue writing a column in another format - using the same personal “storytelling” style.

So here it is! Please consider subscribing to my new online column/newsletter, entitled “Hometownstories.org.”

I like giving a voice to local people, places, and ideas that you otherwise might never hear about; stories of joy and hope - often diced with humor.

Please join our community of like-minded people. People who care about their neighbors. People who seek to uplift one another.

As a subscriber you will receive a local story of interest every Wednesday and Sunday; a twice weekly piece of Bristol - and our entire Appalachian region, including all surrounding towns and counties in TN and VA.

Stories that bond us together in our common humanity.

Stories you like to hear.

Stories you need to hear.

Stories you will find nowhere else.

(Great news: Paid subscriptions go directly toward helping needy children, families, and the homeless in Bristol. Bless you for subscribing!)

You will not only receive local short stories about local people, but up-to-date news about opportunities and goings-on that help better our local community and region. Videos, too!

I’ve found that it takes an enormous amount of labor to create well-crafted stories. Paid subscribers will receive such stories here for only pennies a day. I truly want everyone to have access to a subscription, regardless of one’s economic situation. Therefore, we have set the price of a full subscription at the bare minimum amount; a mere $5 a month.

(A tab to our new non-profit, Bristol Santa, will also be added to this page as the Christmas Season nears! Many readers have helped me with this much needed local mission in the past. You will now be able to make fully tax deductible donations to this worthy cause, directly from your access to this page.)

No paid ads here. No politics. Just good stuff. Straight from me to you.

(If you don’t want to use your credit card and would like to just mail in a check for a full 12 month subscription, you may do so. $50 is a full yearly subscription. To: Hometown Stories, P.O. Box 861, Bristol VA 24203 – thank you. Please don’t forget to include the email you want to use for the stories! Please notify me by email that you will be sending a check and I’ll go ahead and subscribe you, so you can begin reading the stories now: Btalley7@gmail.com.

Please share this newsletter/column launch with your friends.

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Thank you, friends!  I’m looking forward to this adventure with you!   Ben Talley

(Ben Talley is a Bristol native, the author of five books, a retired Bristol teacher, a former Virginia Teacher of the Year, an award-winning columnist, a winner of the McGlothlin Award for Teaching, and a recipient of the Bristol Mayors Award for lifetime community service to his hometown. Mr. Talley is pictured below, just prior to meeting the President in the Oval Office, due to being inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.)