I’m grateful for this opportunity to share my thoughts with you, to make observations on this place we call home and the people here who make it great. I hope to tell you, too, about the lives of folks who weave the fabric of life in places my work takes me.

I’ve read Mike Dobbs’ columns religiously and I’m honored to share this space with him, along with the editors of The Reminder. Mike has provided us with a Charles Kuralt and Studs Terkel understanding of his coverage of people. Wherever my profession takes me in America, on my return home, reading The Reminder is a must. On these pages, folks throughout Hampden and much of Hampshire County read hyper-local news that matters to them.

Some 411,000 people get an edition of The Reminder hand delivered to their home without charge. I can tell you that this is extraordinary and rare anywhere in America. While so many newspapers around the country struggle and too many have died, you, the readers, keep local news alive.

At my home, five newspapers are delivered each morning. Three others come later. It’s The Republican I read first, every page, before newspapers from Boston, New York or Washington.

As a political consultant, I know that the power of great local media, real journalism, is essential. Add our local television and radio news to that mix. It’s the watchdog that makes sure the bad actors are kept in check and held accountable. It’s the herald for the good works of myriad community, social service and charitable efforts and organizations that contribute to the quality of life.

I’m often asked about who and what influenced my decades-long career of political consultation and public relations.

I was blessed to learn greatly from Joe Napolitan, world-renowned international political consultant and a life-long Springfield resident.

I’m indebted to Paul Robbins and Gerry FitzGerald, extraordinary Zen-masters of the art of public and media relations.

Yolly Nahorniak founded and ran the Pine Point Community Council; Street Politics University for me. Yolly and her husband Joe recruited me when I was 17. In 19 years on the council, I learned community activism at its best. I worked with Romeo Cyr (Cyr Arena), Wallace Phinney, Al Magee, Gloria DeFillipo and other masters of community engagement.

I learned that when residents had a problem, like dogs roaming the neighborhood, scaring and attacking seniors and children, that if you locked folks up in a local dog kennel and called the press, the media, they would come. So too, would the mayor and City Councilors. Problem gets solved. The hey-days of the PPCC will make for a future column.

Every minute with my friend and client, the late Peter Picknelly, Sr., was more priceless than a Harvard Business School education. I could write a dozen columns about Peter.

But where I really learned what was important, what mattered most to real people every day, I learned in my father’s grocery store. A. Cignoli & Sons, Inc. My grandfather, Antonio Cignoli, opened the store when he came here from Italy. He worked there every day with my grandmother, Maria. My dad, Luigi, and my mom, Pasqualina, carried on after them. I learned what hard work is from them.

Better than any polling or surveys I use for clients now, I learned at that small store what really was important to people, what motivated them to act, to vote. I learned that the price of a gallon of milk was important. That the parents having to decide between milk or meat, the senior citizen often having to count change to see if they had enough to buy their groceries, was the real world.

My father understood this, and so often gave credit to customers so they could make it one more week. I’ve had people come up to me for years to say thanks for my father and mother’s compassion when they needed it.

I listened to customers talk about politics. Veterans, of their wars, small businesspeople of their struggles, immigrants like my grandparents, people born elsewhere whose children were the first generation of their family born here in America. One man, Ernie Sanders, was fascinating to me. He was in his 90s when I was a child, he was a regular visitor for coffee. Ernie was Black, came here from the South and had family who lived through slavery. Ernie was one of the best professors I could have had. Priceless education for me and my sisters.

I’ve learned that was most important then, and still is now. The people here, as diverse as we are, all share the same hopes, dreams and fears. I’ve seen people with little themselves give so generously to help others. I am overwhelmed by the incredible capacity of people in Western Massachusetts to organize, mobilize and act for the common good.

I am greatly blessed. I hope to do some justice to sharing the stories of you and our community, the stories of us. Thank you for all you do to contribute to the beautiful mosaic of this place we call home.

Anthony L. Cignoli is the president of Anthony L. Cignoli Associates, Inc. & The A. L. Cignoli Company. He is a political consultant and public and media relations consultant for candidates, public officials, companies and charitable organizations throughout America. The opinions expressed within the article are that of the author’s and do not represent the opinions and beliefs of the paper.