By John Burton
TINTON FALLS – It’s a busy time but a good time for Lorrie Klaric.
“I’m just trying to get my arms around everything,” in her new job, said Klaric, who has been working for about a week as executive director of Holiday Express, a nonprofit organization that brings music, gifts and financial support to society’s neediest, and maybe most importantly bringing some joy during the holiday season.
Starting just prior to Thanksgiving and continuing until Christmas Eve, it is Holiday Express’s busy season, as the organization presents 68 concerts in 68 separate appearances in 68 days.
“It’s an exciting time to start,” Klaric noted. But what she quickly realized is, “until you see it, you don’t really understand the whole Holiday Express program.” And that program includes running a seven-day-a-week operation from now until Christmas.
What Klaric realized very early on, what led her to seek the position is that “I think what Holiday Express does is it captures the spirit of the season unlike any other organization.”
Klaric currently lives in Newton, Pa., though she is originally from Monmouth County, and comes to Holiday Express with 12 years experience working for not-for-profits. Prior to starting here she worked as executive director of Dress for Success Mercer County, an organization that provides appropriate attire and job development skills for disadvantaged women.
One of the benefits she’s found in working for the nonprofit sector is a dedication on the part of employees and certainly on the part of those who offer their time to volunteer for the groups, Klaric said. “An organization that is mission-driven is focused,” she observed.
Holiday Express has just four full-time employees and relies greatly on the efforts of about 1,500 volunteers. Those volunteers include musicians who perform with Holiday Express founder Tim McLoone; those who work in the Shrewsbury Avenue warehouse, unloading and packing trucks and working in the offices, answering phones; volunteers, made up of students and people from all walks of life, who put together the gift bags and meals for the approximately 16,000 people who have and will attend this year’s concerts; the volunteers “Who see all 68 events go off without a hitch,” Klaric said.
“What I’m most impressed with is the longevity of so many. Most have been here for 10 years or more,” she observed.
The end result of the Herculean efforts extended by all does make it all worthwhile, she believed.
The Holiday Express troupe, now in its 22nd year, performs at homeless shelters, alcohol and drug rehab and recovery facilities, facilities that house and treat the developmentally disabled and children with special needs.
“You know you’ve done your job when at the end of the day you’ve made people happy and share human kindness,” Klaric noted.
Klaric is replacing Don Pignataro, who has been executive director since 2006 and retiring at the end of the year. He’s working with Klaric during the busy season, ensuring a smooth transition for when Klaric flies solo in January 2015.
“She’ll be responsible for everything on the operational side,” Pignataro said of Klaric. “But she’ll be great. She has the experience and the heart for it.”
