But of all the adjectives I've used to describe our employees here, on good and bad days, "heroic" is a term that's never crossed my lips. It's a newspaper, after all, not an emergency room or fire station.
But we do have heroes at The Register Citizen.
So far, 15 of them.

They are officially "Everyday Heroes" - people who have committed to giving $1 a day over the next year to the United Way of Northwest Connecticut.
High gas prices, home heating oil costs and the state of the economy are a double negative this year - creating a bigger need than ever for the 22 agencies the United Way supports in our area, and making it harder than ever for the United Way to meet the goals of its annual fundraising campaign, which is now in full swing.

"Everyday Heroes" are stepping up to meet that need.
You know, $365 is a lot of money, especially when times are tough.
But the neat thing about the United Way is that donations can be deducted from your paycheck. Instead of trying to swing that much money all at once, it's taken in small amounts from your check over the course of the entire year. A painless way to ease the pain of those less fortunate than us.

And if, like most people, you don't have thousands of dollars to hand out to every good cause in Northwest Connecticut, you can still do a tremendous amount of good. You can give what you can afford to give, and the United Way will spread the impact out over a diverse and worthwhile spectrum of local causes. It's like a mutual fund of investment in the community and our kids.
The Register Citizen's "Everyday Heroes" didn't balk at $1 a day - that's far less than a coffee at Dunkin' Donuts, one said, and using a coffee maker at work is a good tradeoff - even though some of them work only part-time, and some make minimum wage or close to it.

In fact, more "Everyday Heroes" came from the mailroom at The Register Citizen than the boardroom at The Register Citizen.
They are simply great employees who care deeply about the community they live in and the well-being of their neighbors.
To me, and to the thousands of families whose lives are changed by the United Way in Northwest Connecticut, they are simply and truly "Everyday Heroes."
Matt DeRienzo is publisher of The Register Citizen. He can be reached at 860-489-3121, ext. 350, or by email at mderienzo@registercitizen.com.