The SE Voice’s editor Lechelle Earl is no stranger to newspapers, nor media, having spent the last 26 years in the industry.

Mount Gambier born and bred, she started her cadetship with TBW as a Grant High School Year 12 school leaver, spending two years there, before heading to the Mount Barker Courier, where she honed her skills during the next eight years.

Following that, Lechelle moved into the role of media advisor in Parliament House, before returning to Mount Gambier in 2005.

After another short stint back at TBW, she started her own company Blue Lake Media Services, working for various regional, state and national publications.

She also turned her hand to work at Onions Australia, the national peak industry body for the Australian onion industry – a role she continues to carry out.

It was with the shock closure of TBW, SE Times and Penola Pennant, that Lechelle decided the Lower South East region had been left without a much needed – and deserved – voice.

“Learning that operators from outside of the region were proposing to branch out into the South East, it was obvious to me that something had to be done to ensure that Mount Gambier, Millicent and Penola, along with everywhere in between, needed to retain control of its voice and not be dictated to by the owners of newspapers from outside of the area,” Lechelle said.

“And so The SE Voice was born. At its core, The Voice is local. It has local staff across all departments, focusses on local issues and speaks to and on behalf of, its local community.”

Lechelle set about pulling together a crack team of local media industry experts who could all align with her key values, having honesty, integrity, loyalty and independence.

“I am a passionate, driven and determined proud Mount Gambier resident – and I make no apologies,” she said.

“There was no doubt in my mind that good people had been left without jobs and that simply was not acceptable in my eyes.

“These people had been serving the local community for years and deserved an opportunity to continue to do so.

“The SE Voice staff – who all live in our region – pull together our quality paper every week, with the only component not done in the region being printing, which is carried out at Mount Barker as it is the closest printing press in SA.

“Our paper employs locals, supporting the local economy while giving the region extensive news coverage. This is where our strength lies – we are not an existing business with established views, coming in from out of town and taking money out of our community.”

Many of you might recall Lechelle’s charity work, which started when her younger sister Bianca was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2003.

“When it became apparent that my sister Bianca required a bone marrow transplant to save her life and realising there was a limited number of donors on the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Register, I started the “Every Drop Counts” campaign,” she said.

“The campaign highlighted that to join the ABMDR, people first needed to become a blood donor and Mount Gambier did not have a permanent nor visiting blood donation service.

“And so the campaign was born. It was – and remains to this day – the largest community campaign ever run in this region.”

The campaign was simple – the basis of it was a petition calling on the Australian Red Cross to reinstate blood donation services to the region, so that people could both donate and join the donor register.

The petition attracted 16,000 signatures in less than two months, with support from all local councils, sporting clubs and other local identities.

It was tabled in State Parliament and within a short period of time the Red Cross started visiting Mount Gambier every 12 weeks.

“While my sister later died, this remained a positive legacy of her life,” she said.

Lechelle’s charity work did not end there, as she and members of her family have been gold ambassadors for the Leukaemia Foundation’s Light the Night fundraisers, as well as raising funds for equipment at the Mount Gambier Hospital.

“There’s something special about giving back to those who go out of their way to help others,” she said.

“I’d like to think there’s a bit of that in The SE Voice.

“I am just so proud of our team who really have grabbed this opportunity and made it their own. They have so much pride in our paper and I cannot thank them enough for their dedication and support.

“The same must be said for the Limestone Coast community, who have welcomed us with open arms. I cannot thank the community enough for their support of The SE Voice – you have all blown me away.”