It's not often I get the chance to write what I think here at the Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch – but today I get to let loose a bit. 

What's the occasion you ask? Patch is turning 100 and we're relaxing the editorial wall a little to celebrate. 

Many of you have been reading the Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch since we launched back in December. In the eight months we've been live, we've posted over 860 articles, over 40 videos and thousands of pictures of the people, places and events in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. We've covered everything from government and schools to sports and crime. No matter the issue, whether it's big or small, a fire at 1 a.m. or a food drive at the local pool – we're giving as much coverage as we can to the news and events that make these wonderful communities so vibrant.

What you may not know is that this effort is being done now in 100 different towns. Our latest site launched in Morristown, New Jersey just moments ago. While many people on the streets of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow  refer to me as "Sean Patch" or "Patch Guy," I am, unfortunately, not the namesake of this budding little company. 

Patch began as a start-up back in 2008 with a vision to create a new way for communities to engage online. A few test sites in New Jersey expanded into Connecticut and Westchester last year. Our own Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow site is considered one of the flagships of the Patch approach to local media. 

Since then, Patch has been expanding rapidly with support from AOL, which took control of the company last year. Patch has started what might be considered a new frontier for news – that being the local sphere that has so long been left under-served by larger news networks.

Now there are a number of major news publishers jumping on the local bandwagon, with Hearst, The New York Times, and even Yahoo tinkering with their own hyper-local sites. Thankfully, Patch was way ahead of the curve on this one.

But what does that mean for us here at the Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch?

With the launch of our 100th site, we're sending a clear message that we are investing in our communities, and that we're in it for the long haul. We're not only providing the latest news and information, but we're also volunteering, and supporting events like Tarrytown's Third Friday. 

It also means that our approach to local content and communities is being embraced by an overwhelming number of people. I believe that is because our site adapts and responds to our readers. We cover the stories that affect you, and we engage the community in a way that hasn't been done by traditional papers in many years. 

I've received a lot of comments from readers in the past eight months, and many of those commenters are pleasantly surprised with the amount of current coverage we are able to provide. For too long stories had fallen through the cracks due to a lack of resources. And to be honest, it feels good to be part of something so new, and useful, in this community.

I won't deny that it requires a lot of upkeep. Maintaining the Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch site is more than a full-time job – there are many late nights, lots of empty coffee cups and plenty of time spent keeping an ear to the ground for the stories that keep this place pumping. 

But in reality, what makes this job worthwhile, and sustainable, is the community itself. Each day I can walk down the street and people are eager to engage or talk about what is happening in their town. There are so many interesting people and a seemingly endless number of stories that keep popping out of the woodwork here. Every time I think that we're running low on leads, I get e-mails that send me in a dozen new directions.

What makes Patch successful isn't just the work we put into it – it's the community that sustains it, embraces it and engages it to become more relevant and imperative.

Turning 100 is a milestone for communities, and I want to thank all of our readers for helping us reach this goal. We couldn't have done it without you.