gmhTODAY 18 gmhToday Feb March 2018 | Page 9

T Publishers Larry & J. Chris Mickartz on a Chicago adventure, page 96. Proud Supporters Of: hey say it takes a village to raise a child. Well here at TODAY it takes a community to put out a community lifestyles magazine that represents what the South Santa Clara Valley means to all of us who are fortunate enough to live here. So as we begin the new year, we thank those of you who have emailed us, left a comment on our site or our facebook page or stopped us on our travels, offering words of encouragement or giving us a lead on a story. We also want to thank our amazing staff who believe in our mission and work to give our readers the best possible magazine every other month. They are amazing. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with all of our staff (page 7). We are so pleased to welcome Bev Stenehjem, Advertising Account Executive and Features Writer, to our team. She comes to us with a vast knowledge of our local wine industry, a polished writing ability, a keen sense of purpose and a desire to help us succeed. So, what's in this issue? Once again we've identified some folks who we feel will have a positive impact on our region in the coming year. They come from a cross-section of the communities we serve and have shown their dedication to making all our lives richer and their hometowns amazing places to work, live and play. (pages 25-37). We couldn't possibly let February go by without remembering Valentine's Day and sharing the love stories of some pretty neat couples (page 86). But not all love stories are between couples. Some families have stories that show just how deep their love can run. The story of Konni (mother) and Kassi (daughter) is just one such story (page 60). Don't forget to take a look at our Year in Review on pages 100-103. 2017 was quite a year. We hope you will enjoy revisiting the things that made it so. Enjoy!! GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN gmh FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 We want to wish all our advertisers, contributors, writers, and readers a happy and prosperous New Year. 2017 has been a good year for us at TODAY and it has been an honor to produce a magazine for and about the entire South Santa Clara Valley. gmh Our goal has always been to produce an upscale, content-rich community magazine that high- lights community involvement, activities and stories of achieve- ment and challenges that make our region such an amazing place to live, work and play. We trust that TODAY is the magazine that our community will continue to embrace and enjoy for years to come. gmh As we ended our eleventh year of publishing, we feel good about having taken our website to a new level by including a blog and increasing our search capabilities. We have also become more active on social media and hope to increase our interaction with you, our readers. In case you missed any of our 2017 issues, we’re providing a recap. If you see a story of interest, visit our website to see what you missed: gmhtoday.com gmhtoday.com 9