An e-mail allegedly penned by veteran Dick Forrey claims that Target, the national chain of discount department stores, refuses to donate to veteran organizations.
The e-mail appears to have been inspired by a conflict between a veteran and a local Target store that probably could have been handled better than it was. The original e-mail, which lamented Target's lack of support for a specific project, has since morphed wildly to include claims that the company is owned by the French, suspends benefits for military reservists whom have been activated and only supports liberal charities.
Here's the e-mail:
Date Collected: 12/17/2003
I never much cared for Target and now I know why.
Recently we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud sponsor of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during our spring recognition event.
We received the following reply from the local TARGET management: "Veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only donate to the arts, social action groups, gay &lesbian causes, and education."
So I'm thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and veterans in general do not meet their donation criteria, then something is really wrong at this TARGET store. We were not asking for thousands of dollars, not even hundreds, just a small sponsorship for a memorial remembrance.
As a follow-up, I e-mailed the TARGET U.S. corporate headquarters and their response was the same. That's their national policy.
Then I looked into the company further. They will not allow the Marines to collect for 'Toys for Tots' at any of their stores. And during the recent Iraq deployment, they would not allow families of employees who were called up for active duty to continue their insurance coverage while they were on military service. Then as I dig further, TARGET is a French-owned corporation.
Now, I'm thinking again. If TARGET can not support American Veterans, then why should I and my family support their stores by spending our hard earned American dollars and to have their profits sent to France. Without the American Vets, where would France be today?
Feel free to pass this along to whomever you want.
Sincerely,
Dick ForreyVeterans Helping Veterans
The version of the e-mail above is one I got in December 2003, but I first received this message back in February (yeah, I slacked on this one for a very long time ... its recent resurgance got me off my butt). Target has been very good about responding to this hoax; here is their latest (1/6/2004) word on the topic:
TARGET CORPORATION SUPPORTS VETERANS
~ Company is not foreign-owned ~
Since 2002, Target has been the victim of a misleading e-mail campaign. This e-mail campaign grossly misrepresents our support of veterans and our soldiers. In fact, the author of the original e-mail recently contacted Target to express his regret for sending the initial e-mail in 2002 and to share his concern about the false information being attributed to him. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the Internet and e-mail communication, the original e-mail has been repeatedly and inaccurately modified and perpetuated by unknown writers.
The National Veterans of Foreign Wars posted a press release on their Web site on December 6, 2002 to help clarify this issue and show their support of Target at http://www.vfw.org/news/target.htmTarget Corporation is a publicly held U.S. company (NYSE: TGT). The company has been based in Minneapolis, Minnesota ever since its founding as The Dayton Company by businessman George Dayton in 1902. Target is not now, nor has it ever been, foreign-owned.
Our company has supported many charitable causes throughout our history, including veterans' organizations. For years, Target has donated funds and volunteer hours to local and national veteran and military organizations around the country.