A single-width press funded by a two-week whip-around of philanthropic sources is being kept busy printing a range of “survivor” newspapers.

The Trust Press in Denver, Colorado was an urgent response to a capacity shortage after the Gannett/Gatehouse merger led to the closure of the Pueblo Chieftain printing plant.

Now the four-tower DGM 430 press – moved a year ago from a site in Canada – is paying off for the National Trust for Local News, which installed it with help from a coalition of local and national philanthropic investors including the Denver-based Gates Family Foundation. At the time, project director Melissa Milios Davis claimed “no one funder alone could have coughed up US$900,000 in a couple weeks, which is really what we turned it around in”.

Focus of the project is printing of NTLN’s Colorado Community Media when production had to move from the Denver Post. However, availability of the press has helped regional newspapers – among them the weekly Rocky Mountain Collegian – keep publishing

One casualty for which it did not arrive in time is the Eastern Colorado Plainsman, which ceased publication after a Gannett print site closed and others turned out to be too expensive, a German-built press at the Pueblo Chieftain having been “abruptly mothballed”.

At the Trust Press, supplier ImPressions Worldwide has just been back to resolve some electrical issues, with production director Kevin Smalley noting that the print site was too busy to risk downtime.

Smalley brought 35 years of industry experience to the operation, having previously served as operations vice president at the Daily Gazette in Schenectady, New York. He joined Colorado Community Media last year to oversee the start-up of the new facility. “We have heard from so many local publishers here in Colorado who had been struggling to find an affordable printing solution, and I am excited to serve them at the Trust Press. We have a great team and first-rate facility in place,” he said.

He told IW, how much they had been helped by a visit from electrical technician Armando Garcia, working to fine-tune system issues, ensuring uninterrupted production while training the crew for long-term reliability

“As a new startup we can’t afford to be down.”

Pictured: Kevin Smalley with with Robin Smith (top), and with Neil Bastain and Dave Gilmore of imPRESSions Worldwide (below)