Neighbor Spotlight: Monroeville girl, 10, creates her own newspaper to bring together neighborhood

Editor’s note: Neighbor Spotlight is a monthly feature that aims to let our readers learn more about the people in their communities who are working to make them a better place, who have interesting stories to tell or who the community feels deserve “15 minutes of fame.” If you would like to nominate someone as a Neighbor Spotlight, see timesexpress.com, select the “Post Story” button in the upper right corner and complete the form to publish your nomination. Questions? Email Neighborhood News Network editor Katie Green at kgreen@triblive.com.

Extra, extra read all about it on Rickey Drive in Monroeville, where a 10-year-old girl has turned her passion for writing into a reality by creating her own newspaper.

Alivia Reeder writes, publishes and delivers the “Rickey Drive Gazette” to her neighbors every week. The one-page paper has stories and features front and back ranging from recipes, news, animal stories, drawings and more.

“It’s my goal to brighten people’s day,” Alivia said.

Alivia has always had a love of writing and wanted to use her spare time to create a neighborhood newspaper. Attending school virtually helped her carve out time to plan and execute her editions in April. She became acquainted with her neighbors before delivering sample copies of the paper to see if they would be interested in reading it.

”I was surprised by how many people wanted to read it and liked it,” she said. “I thought only two or three people would read it.”

The most difficult part of her job is coming up with story ideas, she said. Alivia will ask her mom for help on brainstorming ideas, she said. She also takes suggestions from readers on what to write next. For every edition, she strives to write three or four stories, depending on the week.

“It does take a lot of time,” she said.

Her mother, Regan Reeder, helps Alivia with proofreading and printing the articles.

“As a teacher, I love seeing her passion for writing and reading turn into a potential profession,” Reeder said.

Not being able to socialize as much during the pandemic, the newspaper was Alivia’s way to stay busy, her mother said.

“This gave her something creative and productive to do,” Reeder said.

Alivia delivers copies of her paper to eight to 10 houses on her street, depending on who is home. She will either walk or ride her bike along Rickey Drive to place paper copies in her neighbors’ mailboxes.

Crystal McFadden, who lives next door to the Reeder family, said she became a subscriber after receiving a copy of the Gazette in her mail. As a writer and speaker for her business, Crystal Cnvrstns, she can tell Alivia puts thought into what she writes and takes her time on it.

“You can tell she has the reader in mind when she writes it, and knowing her heart is in it makes me so proud,” McFadden said.

Alivia said she has plans to celebrate the paper’s three-month anniversary. She also hopes to be able to expand the paper to be delivered to more houses.

“I just love being able to bring the neighborhood together with this paper,” she said.