Inside today’s paper, you’ll find our annual “Profile” edition. This is always one of the more enjoyable special sections that we put out each year, because it focuses on feel-good stories and people who are making a difference in our community.

Certainly, one of the important jobs of a newspaper is informing the public about all important news or information — both good and bad. It’s never fun to report about a death, a major crime arrest, or a public official who has betrayed the public’s trust, but it’s our responsibility.

However, Profile is different. It is nothing but “good news” about what makes our community so special. This year’s theme was “Rising Above,” and we focused on telling the stories of people who have overcome obstacles and challenges. Sometimes those challenges are personal, such as recovering from a debilitating injury or coming back from a fire that destroyed a historic church. Other times, those challenges are societal, such as coming up with ways to combat the problems of youth delinquency, poverty and recidivism in our prisons.

Regardless of the challenge, each of the subjects of this year’s Profile stories has been able to “rise above” the obstacles in his or her way. They certainly have had help along the way, whether from family members, friends or volunteers, but at the same time their individual stories of overcoming are inspiring as well. These feature subjects include members of all races, genders, faiths and social groups, but they all have one thing in common — they were able to “Rise Above.”

We hope that you enjoy reading about them, because they are your friends and neighbors, and they are one reason why we have hope that our community will continue to persevere and grow.

Thanks for reading The Daily News!

Justin Schuver is the publisher and editor of The Daily News. You can email him at justin.schuver@bogalusadailynews.com or call him at 985-732-2565, ext. 305.