Fairfield siblings launch weekly newsletter
“Good News Sunday Fairfield” shares good news and fun facts
FAIRFIELD — In a challenging year, siblings Luke and Sofia Palisi said they wanted to find a way to spread happiness to people.
With that in mind, the pair created “Good News Sunday Fairfield,” a weekly newsletter that shares good news and fun facts about different topics, as well as puzzles and games.
“We thought that the news doesn’t focus on good news enough,” said Luke, 11. “We wanted to do something to bring good news to people.”
He said it was especially important in a time when people are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. He originally has an email newsletter in mind, but he and his nine-year-old sister, Sofia, opted for starting with print.
“I thought that this should also build a sense of community,” Luke said. “We thought that doing a paper version would bring (that). Community is a happy place... and we should all be friends.”
Starting on Oct. 31, the brother and sister began writing, editing, laying out and printing the newsletter, as well as delivering it in their area of Fairfield on Sunday mornings. Sofia said they eventually decided to also send the publication out via email.
“Our newsletter has four pages,” she said. “The first one is just good news — all good stories. Our second one is about research.”
Sofia said she came up with the name “Good News Sunday Fairfield” because she wanted to include good news in the title. She chose Sunday because it represents a fresh start of the week.
Luke said he and Sofia spend “a lot” of time putting the newsletter together, noting they have a schedule that has them working on it every day.
Sofia said she and Luke decide at the beginning of the week who is going to write the news page and who is going to write the research page. The third page has puzzles and games that change each week, as well as chess tips — a game they both enjoy.
“The last page is kind of the announcement page,” Sofia said. “It has big announcements, ads and it also has... stuff about us.”
For the news page, Sofia said Luke likes to use “Some Good News,” a web series created by actor and filmmaker John Krasinski, to find story ideas. She said they also both like to use other sources as well, noting that they summarize stories in their own words for the paper.
“In our perspective,” she said. “In our words.”
The newsletter usually has four to five stories in it each week, mostly from national news, but sometimes local.
Luke said one of his favorite stories included so far was about Lasagna Love — a organization that makes and delivers food to people in need. Sofia said her favorite was about a couple that had to call off its wedding during the pandemic, so it donated all the event’s food to people who needed it on Thanksgiving.
When it comes to the research page, Luke said he mostly does write ups about space. Sofia said she switches between topics based on what she wants to learn about.
“I don’t really have one subject that I like to research about,” she said, adding that a favorite so far was about the anatomy of dogs.
The pair said they decided to
put puzzles and brain teasers in the newsletter to keep their readers’ minds active. Luke uses a puzzlemaker on the internet to create them.
“We thought that people should use their brains, because it’s good for you,” he said.
It also offers a break from screen time.
“More people are going online now [because of COVID-19], so they are more on their computers,” Sofia said. “We want to get their mind active.”
Luke said they decided to also email the newsletter starting on the third week after they received emails from people who wanted to share it with their relatives who live in other places. They use their home printer to make the print edition, but are hoping to find someone to do it for them soon.
Luke and Sofia have developed quite the audience, and delivered 250 print copies of the newsletter with their Dec. 12 edition. Sofia said their circulation has grown by 20 or 30 each week.
“Each week we tend to expand our reach,” Luke said.
Luke said they have received a bunch of positive feedback from the community about the newsletter.
“We’ve gotten a lot of emails from people saying they loved it,” he said. “We’ve gotten a couple of requests to be guest writers. We’ve gotten a lot of engagement from the reader base.”
Both said they enjoy seeing neighbors when they deliver the newsletter.
“I like when they’re just waiting at the door to get the good news,” Sofia said. “Waiting for us to come by.”
Luke said the duo is launching a website, goodnewssundayfairfield.com, on Jan. 10 that will allow people to find current and past editions online. People can sign up to receive the newsletter by emailing goodnewssundayfairfield@gmail.com.
Luke and Sofia would be taking a break until Jan. 10 for the holidays. After that, Luke said, they will keep making “Good News Sunday Fairfield” for as long as they can.