I just sent this to the Kansas City Star's e-mail address for news tips. If you would like to send them an e-mail telling them that this is newsworthy (and I think you SHOULD do that) then this is the address to use:
[email protected]
It doesn't have to be a long letter like mine. Now that mine is out there, they should at least know the gist of what is happening, and any other e-mails will just serve to show that there is meat to this. If you
believe in the cause, why not
do for the cause, eh?
Hello,
I’m writing to let you know about a local story that I believe is worth your consideration for a feature in your paper. I’m a moderator on a large online forum where people talk about tools, projects, and garages. On this forum and in many other places the Harry J. Epstein Company is well-known. We know that they are a family-owned company with 82 years of history right there in downtown Kansas City; we know that they are committed to supporting manufacturing jobs in the United States by offering quality USA-made tools when so many of their competitors across the nation have been reduced to offering cheap imported goods; we know they are staffed by friendly, helpful and honest people; heck, we even know that they will paint their shipping boxes with beautiful and/or comical custom artwork upon a customer’s request. Yes, that’s right, in 2012 there is still a company that will hand-paint a shipping box to make the consumer’s experience more satisfying. And that company is right in your own city.
On July 4th, many of us will be combining our celebration of America with a celebration of a great American company: Harry J. Epstein. As of this moment there are almost 5,200 views of a thread that I started on garagejournal.com about this event, with 163 replies. Dozens of people from around the country, and even from other countries will be participating in this event. The idea is to make an online purchase, large or small, from Harry J. Epstein and to leave a note at the time of the purchase explaining our support for the company’s philosophy, practices, and American products. Our intention moving forward is to make this an annual event.
Why would your readers care about this news in the local section of their paper? Here are some reasons:
People love to see local businesses thrive
People love family-owned businesses with history and deep roots right in their own community
People love to see a business holding on to its principles in an age when the dollar rules all too often
People love it when something in their community that is good has been noticed and celebrated by the outside world
People love to feel good; a story about supporting USA manufacturing in the era of outsourcing, supporting a local business with character and flair, and doing this as an extension of the celebration of our great nation is sure to make many of your readers feel very good.
Here is a link to the thread on garagejournal.com where you can see how all this came together:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=154512
I should point out that I have no connection with the Harry J. Epstein Company, nor was any of this plan set in motion by them. I first had the idea, presented it to the members of our large online community, and that community voiced their enthusiastic support for the idea.
I hope you will consider doing an article about this in your paper. I can tell you with conviction that if I were a citizen of Kansas City, I would want to know about it.
Thanks for your time and consideration.
