I’ve been chatting with you every week since last summer about the work our journalists do in your community, why we do it, and how that bonds us to readers like you.

I appreciate being able to explain how we help you and your families by providing credible news, information and context. And that has never been more important than in the last month, as the novel coronavirus has swept through our state.

Now I’m asking for your help.

The coronavirus is a once-in-a-lifetime story, and MLive.com is rising to the challenge. We’re writing more stories than ever, around the clock, as circumstances rapidly change. Our journalists are working in challenging conditions.

They are reporting seven days a week about the toll on health-care workers; about institutions that have closed; and about the devastating economic effect on retail stores, factories and other businesses.

It probably won’t surprise you that as businesses have closed, the advertising revenue that supports our vital journalism has been dealt a crippling blow.

We’re hurting. It’s been heartening that many of you have reached out to me to offer thanks for our staff’s work in getting vital information out to the public.

And some of you have asked how you can support us. Here’s how:

Beginning today, MLive.com will offer digital subscriptions for $10 a month. The coronavirus news on MLive.com is free, of course, so subscribing is simply an act of support for our work. Go here to sign up.

A subscription to MLive.com directly powers the work of our newsrooms: the stories we publish on our website, the many email newsletters we deliver to your inbox, our text-messaging services, our podcasts, our mobile apps, our videos and our social-media presence, including Facebook Live broadcasts.

Traditional forms of advertising were shrinking before the coronavirus upended everything. We don’t know how much will come back when life resumes with some semblance of the normal we once knew.

We may eventually require a digital subscription for unlimited access to MLive.com. For now, though, if you value our coronavirus coverage – and all the other local and state news we provide 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – please support us at this critical time. (If you already subscribe to The Ann Arbor News, The Bay City Times, The Flint Journal, The Grand Rapids Press, the Jackson Citizen Patriot, the Kalamazoo Gazette, the Muskegon Chronicle or The Saginaw News, we appreciate your support, and we thank you.)

News you can trust is more important now than ever. Thank you again for trusting us to deliver the news Michigan depends on. Thank you for supporting MLive.com, and our eight local newspapers, as we serve you and your community.

John Hiner is the vice president of content for MLive Media Group. If you have questions you’d like him to answer, or topics to explore, share your thoughts at editor@mlive.com.