Holiday Express received a copy of the email below from concerned fan Heather Keefe,
who, in her email below to Toys'R'Us spokesperson Kathleen Waugh, takes the New Jersey based toy giant to task for their use of the name Holiday Express.
Hello Kathleen,
As a public relations consultant and grant writer who works with numerous non-profits in New Jersey, I felt compelled to write you about the Holiday Express non-profit.
For the record, I don't work with Holiday Express or know Tim McLoone personally. But I work in New Jersey's non-profit sector; it's impossible NOT to know Holiday Express.
Holiday Express is one of the most respected and connected non-profits in New Jersey, not just Monmouth County. In a unique fashion, Holiday Express brings professional musicians that have performed around the world to organizations that, frankly, most people don't want to visit -- those that cater to people living with extreme disabilities or poverty.
It's ludicrous for a New Jersey corporation like Toys R Us to say it never heard of Holiday Express. Did no one in your media monitoring department think to try holidayexpress.org, in the off-chance a non-profit with that name might exist? Or a Google search? Right after the hotel results, you're reading about Holiday Express, the non-profit. A quick glance at holidayexpress.org demonstrates the organization's reach. Clearly it's not a fly-by-night operation.
I realize Toys R Us maintains a Corporate Philanthropy department. Since I develop a lot of grant proposals related to children, I thoroughly research the giving opportunities among corporations and foundations that cater to families.
Unfortunately, neither the Toys R U Corporate Philanthropy department or Toys R Us Children's Fund permits a local non-profit to submit a grant proposal, since giving is focused "primarily" on national organizations. That's certainly the company's right, but it's disingenuous to say the company supports local children's causes. It's a stretch.
But what this comes down to is horrible public relations.
Of course New Jersey shoppers have heard about Holiday Express -- not all of them, but many of them. Of course this is true at the Monmouth Mall and Jersey Shore Outlets in Monmouth County. Of course this is true for anyone who's seen Holiday Express perform with Bruce Springsteen or at Rockefeller Center. And of course shoppers can get confused about supporting Holiday Express when they make a "Holiday Express at Toys R Us" purchase -- not all of them, but many of them.
Toys R Us has done wonderful work with Autism Speaks. I've gladly made donations and purchased cool Autism Speaks bags at a Toys R Us register. Shoppers are accustomed to being asked to support a charity while making a purchase.
Lately, foundations that do approve grants for local non-profits have started incorporating a
"local store" angle, and it's great. Recently, I had the experience of securing a national JCPenney grant for a non-profit client and then being permitted to have shoppers at our local JCPenney store make donations to our organization. It was a terrific way to market our organization; local non-profits seek these in-store/community linkages all the time. So again, it's obvious that Holiday Express supporters could get confused by "Holiday Express at Toys R Us."
I appreciate that you've been inserted into this situation as a corporate spokesperson and you're not the ultimate decision-maker. I've been there. But I respectfully request that you share my letter with your attorneys and CEO, as one more example of a disappointed Toys R Us customer in the company's home state of New Jersey.
In addition to being a public relations professional who knows how to communicate my disappointment with Toys R Us, I'm also a mom who will be purchasing this year's Christmas
toys at Target, thanks to the Holiday Express debacle.
Thank you for your time.
Heather Keefe
Keefe Communications LLC