A community pulls together to advocate for pedestrian safety near a Cheesman Park street known for dangerous car wrecks.

Local nonprofits fill a pantry with shelf-stable foods as well as fresh produce for food-insecure families at South High School.

Volunteers retrofit a Castle Rock family’s home to help the 10-year-old son, paralyzed in an auto crash, maneuver more easily.

A flash flood in Englewood kills one woman and devastates the lives of several families whose homes are effectively destroyed by the disaster.

Two new projects break ground in Westminster, part of an ongoing redevelopment that is revitalizing the city’s economy.

A centenarian in Arvada gives this advice on living longer: “Everybody should be kind to one another.”

Week in and week out, in some communities for more than 100 years, Colorado Community Media’s 20 newspapers cover life — the joy, the sorrows, the successes and disappointments — and in so doing recognize the commonalities that bind us across backgrounds, perspectives and geographical boundaries.

We keep an eye on government, reporting and scrutinizing its decisions at all levels — school boards, city councils, county commissions, the state Legislature and Congress — to ensure elected public officials are held accountable to their constituents, to disseminate the information needed to make good decisions and be better citizens.

We tell the stories of people and issues in our communities with a passion for truth, respect and compassion for those we interview, and an ethical responsibility to report with fairness, accountability and transparency.

Our country’s democracy depends on how well we do our job. We take that privilege seriously, and every day we go out and do that job knowing we are furthering the historic mission entrusted to us in the First Amendment of our nation’s Constitution. Many journalists lose their lives — in wars and disasters and, sometimes, in more ordinary circumstances — in pursuit of that cause.

Does that sound like “an enemy of the people?” Are our stories “fake news?”

Regardless of where one falls on the political spectrum, we should be alarmed by President Donald Trump’s constant rhetoric that denigrates the press and its commitment to serving the public with accurate reporting of facts.

In recent weeks, those verbal attacks have ratcheted up and incited public vulgarity and aggression toward journalists who were simply doing their jobs and did nothing to provoke such actions.

This comes on the heels of a gunman’s attack on the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland that left five staff members dead in June.

We should be alarmed.

When did we forget that a democracy cannot survive without a free and independent press beholden only to the people of the communities it serves — not to the leaders and politicians who decry it when their actions are reported in a light they disapprove of?

Thomas Jefferson understood that important truth:

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter,” he said.

We should be alarmed.

The role of newspapers — and journalism in all its forms — needs the support of communities. It is imperative for the public to understand the harm generated by rhetoric that attempts to undercut the importance of the work we do.

We joined our voices Aug. 16 to those of hundreds of other news media publications across the country, in response to The Boston Globe’s call to editorialize about the administration’s concerted campaign against the free press.

We can assure you, in the communities we cover in the Denver metro area, that we do not publish “fake news.”

We tell real news — your stories, all sides, without an agenda — every week, from Thornton to Denver to Castle Rock, from Golden to Elbert County.

Not too long ago, we received this email from a reader:

“A note of thanks to all of you who write/publish the articles and produce the overall weekly newspaper that is delivered to our doorstep each Thursday/Friday . . . I find there is no better resource that gives our community that needed celebration of its members, whether it be individuals, groups or institutions. The writing is always balanced, detailing both our individual and collective challenges, sufferings and successes . . . Thanks again for doing what you do.”

Thank you — we deeply appreciate knowing our work is valued.

But even if it isn’t, despite challenges, we will continue, with passion and commitment, to report and write the stories that matter, that enlighten us, connect us and help preserve the foundation of this great democracy.