It is with a flurry of mixed emotions that I share some news with the readers of the Kirkland Reporter: Today, June 30, is my last day with the paper.

I have accepted a position as a communications specialist with a Seattle nonprofit. While I am looking forward to this career change, I also have been reflecting on the last seven and a half years I have spent in journalism as a reporter and editor at various publications throughout the United States.

To say I’m grateful for the experience I’ve gained in this position and my other journalism jobs is putting it lightly.

I just moved to the Seattle area last summer, and this job — which has allowed me to cover Kirkland, Bothell and Kenmore — has served as a great tool to get me acquainted with the region. I have enjoyed learning about the area through the meetings and events I attended and watched, and through conversations with the sources for my articles, both in person and over the phone.

You are in good hands with the Reporter’s new editor, Samantha Pak, and I look forward to reading the quality journalism she and the rest of the Eastside Sound Publishing staff will continue to produce after I leave.

Being a journalist isn’t always the easiest job, and if there’s one message I can impart to anyone who reads this, it’s this: Support quality journalism. Subscribe to a publication, contribute to a radio station’s fundraising drive.

If subscriptions aren’t an option (i.e. the publication is free, like the Reporter), buy an ad and/or encourage the local businesses you frequent to follow suit. Go to the businesses that do buy advertising and tell them you saw their ads in your publication of choice.

A lot has been written about the future of journalism, and that future doesn’t have to be bleak if communities rise up and support their local publications.

Catherine Krummey is a reporter for both the Kirkland Reporter and the Bothell-Kenmore Reporter. Find her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook: @ckrummey.