Real Heroes article is annual; heroes’ stories are fresh

Around the holidays, family cooks know their assignment: The family has a favorite — an entree, a side dish or a dessert — that everyone expects on the table. And the cook had better do it right.

Follow Aunt Gladys’ traditional recipe. No fancy variations from the Food Network or Gordon Ramsay are necessary (or appreciated).

The same thing holds true at a community newspaper like the Daily Herald.

There are certain stories that we do annually. Specific facts may change, but the stories themselves strike a familiar chord. And readers grow to expect them.

On Thursday, The Herald presented its package of Real Heroes — one of those stories we never miss.

Each year the American Red Cross Snohomish County Chapter honors a number of local people whose actions helped to save the lives of neighbors, friends, family members, or, often, complete strangers.

The awards ceremony packs a ballroom at the Tulalip Resort Casino, where the breakfast crowd is introduced to the heroes and shown video clips that recount their deeds. This is an important event for the Red Cross, and it raises about a quarter of a million dollars for the local chapter.

Now, The Herald uses plenty of ink announcing awards, nonprofit fundraisers and civic commemorations.

But the staff takes things to a special level for the Real Heroes event. We reserve Page One space a week in advance, to make sure we can feature at least one of the award recipients. (This year it was a story about two guys, lifelong hunting and fishing buddies who each helped save the other’s life during the past year.)

In addition, the newspaper prints photos and summaries about all the other heroes, too.

These stories don’t run a day or a week after the event. They run on the morning of the actual breakfast, so subscribers all over Snohomish County are reading about these heroes while the breakfast is in progress.

In a world full of scandals and crises, politics and police work, what makes a community breakfast like this one worthy of Page One every year?

This year, reporter and columnist Julie Muhlstein drew the assignment, as she frequently has over the years.

“For me, it’s an inspiring reminder that all around us are people quietly going about their live,” she says. “Without expectations of notice or reward, they make life better for others. It’s a privilege to tell their stories.”

Herald reporters are a special breed, says Neal Pattison, executive editor. “They really love telling ‘people’ stories. Sometimes they are tragedies and sometimes they are triumphs. But good journalism introduces neighbors to neighbors and helps them learn how they’re connected.”

And The Herald’s commitment to events like the Real Heroes breakfast goes beyond news coverage. The newspaper company is an official supporter of the event, and Kim Heltne, assistant to the publisher, is a table captain, one of the people who wrangles donations from her seatmates.

“For the past 112 years, our reporters, photographers and editors have shared stories about the heroes (and the villains) in our community,” Heltne says. “We look forward to the Real Heroes breakfast each year because it offers a heart-warming opportunity to celebrate positive outcomes … and to say ‘thank you’ to the individuals whose efforts served to change the course of events.”

And it is not just the Red Cross that gets this sort of treatment.

Each year faithful readers know The Herald will ask elementary students how to cook their Thanksgiving turkeys. And quote the speeches of the county’s high school graduates. And compile a holiday directory, Ways to Give. And publish big, colorful salutes to our top boy and girl athletes.

“The Evergreen State Fair is another example of an event that comes around every summer,” Muhlstein says. “In the past few years, Herald photographers have shared fresh images from the fair each day on a special fair page. That’s a fun way to tell a perennial story.”

It seems there are lots of recurring favorites, and our family of readers expect us to bring them to the table this year and every year. And that is one of the ways The Daily Herald defines community journalism.

The Sunday column, Here at The Herald, provides an inside peek at the newspaper. Is there something you would like to know? Email executive editor Neal Pattison at npattison@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.