As the New Year has finally come upon us, I would like to take a moment to wish you and yours the best that 2014 has to offer. We at Le Floridien hope that you had a wonderful holiday season to close out an eventful 2013 and that you’re looking forward to a year full of wonder, promise, and joy to come.
Le Floridien is entering its 14th year of publishing and while the challenges we’ve faced along the way have been both large and small, we continue to provide this important, free publication to the community. In any tough economic time, small media outlets tend to suffer the most and these past several years have been especially hard for us, yet we praise the hard work and effort of our contributors, sponsors, and staff who continue to help make this publication a vital piece of the Haitian-American community.
We rely on the advertising re-venue from local businesses to bring you the best news, legal advice, and medical expertise from our star contributors. You, our readers, are an important part of us still being here after all these years, through the ups and downs, and overcoming the challenges that we face on a daily and weekly basis. We ask you, our loyal readers and dear friends, to continue to referring our services to potential advertisers, which are the businesses that make our community strong. When you see a business ad in our paper, mention that you ‘saw it in Le Floridien.’ This is how we grow. This is how you and I both continue to have a strong and powerful voice throughout Southern Florida.
We are proud of the work we have done to bring you the latest news, to highlight the wonderful activities and opportunities that exist throughout the community, and to help you, dear readers, to have a voice in the political process of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, the State of Florida, and the United States of America.
As we continue to grow, we are excited about the opportunities for new businesses throughout the community to reach a wide and expanding readership and we hope you’ll join us in spreading the word about Le Floridien and the impact it has on our community.
I would also like to recognize some of the wonderful people who have helped to keep this paper going throughout 2013 and into the New Year. Dr. Henry Sanon, Elizabeth Guerin (Imaginart), Ultimate Impression, Center for Haitian Studies, Call Direk, Digicel, Unitransfert, and Azure College are a few of the amazing people and organizations that work hard to make our community a better place for everyone to live.
Le Floridien is constantly on the lookout for new contributors, people with character, passion, and a desire to make a difference throughout the community. I’d like to thank Patricia Elizee, Jude Etienne, Joel Juste, Hudes Desrameaux, and Andre Fouad for the hard work they put in during this past year. I couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and I am excited for the year ahead.
Finally, I would like to thank you, dear reader, once again for supporting Le Floridien and making it a part of your life. Twice a month you pick up this publication to read about the wonderful events, news, people, and places that are making news throughout our community.
I look forward to continuing to deliver the best, and only truly Haitian-American paper throughout South Florida. God has blessed me with life and I have taken on this challenge from him to continue to help this publication grow and with your help, I know we will succeed in provi-ding our entire community a more powerful voice locally and beyond.
On behalf of the staff at Le Floridien, I wish you all a wonderful, healthy, happy, and safe New Year.
Sincerely,
Dessalines Ferdinand
Publisher