Issue link: https://fredparent.uberflip.com/i/1547186
www.FredericksburgParent.NET 7 I will also con nue to support and advise FXBG Advance, the nonprofi t newsroom I co-founded during the pandemic. It grew from the same convic on that drove this magazine. FXBG Advance covers the large ins tu ons that are hard to report on because they employ so many of our neighbors. That includes Mary Washington Hospital, Amazon and data centers, area school boards, and local governments. Those stories have led to real change for residents who would otherwise go unheard. Our coverage spans educa on, healthcare, transporta on, and housing. We recently added the environment and data centers, along with a new military beat covering defense contractors and military families. Please read and support it at fxbgadvance. com. If Fredericksburg Parent & Family has meant something to you, I hope you will read FXBG Advance at fxbgadvance.com and consider suppor ng it. Local journalism only survives when the community it serves decides it's worth keeping. A HOMECOMING Beginning in 2003, Debbie Benke, founder of Washington Par- ent, was my mentor, and much of what this magazine became, I learned from her. Debbie passed away recently. Her husband, George, and son, Brendan, now carry on her work, and I could not imagine a be er home for Fredericksburg Parent & Family than with her family. Please welcome them as warmly as you welcomed me. WITH GRATITUDE Thank you to the readers who picked us up at the library, the pediatrician's offi ce, and the grocery store. Thank you to the adver sers, many of them small, family-owned businesses, who made every issue possible. And thank you to the families who trusted us with their stories. Twenty-seven years is a long me, and no me at all. Children in our early issues now have children of their own. It has been the honor of my life to serve this community. Thank you, Fred- ericksburg. Keep reading, keep asking ques ons, and take care of each other. With love and gra tude, Leigh Anne Van Doren Founder and Publisher, 1999–2026 "...this magazine gave parents a voice."