Inside today’s edition you’ll find our annual Profile section that serves as a yearbook of sorts for our community.

The Natchez Democrat has been producing Profile for decades and this year’s section is certainly special.

Our staff began working on this year’s Profile section five month ago. The investments local businesses have made through their advertising in the section makes Profile possible. We hope you’ll say “thanks” to those businesses by shopping with them or using their services.

This year’s Profile theme is a bit of a departure and one that may need a little explanation. The theme is 51,168: Greater than the sum of our parts.

Our staff selected that theme because we felt the community needs to pause and realize that despite our area’s recent drop in population, the community remains strong. Our area has more than 50,000 residents and that remains a critical mass that makes us a hub for regional shopping and other economic endeavors.

Inside Profile, you’ll find stories of hope, faith, survival and love.

The stories tell of the diversity of our people and together show collectively how each person who lives here is a thread in a complex woven tapestry of our community.

Sometimes we all forget just how much we have in common and just how much we benefit from working together.

When we work together, our community is unstoppable.

We hope you enjoy this year’s Profile section as much as we enjoyed creating it.