Salt Lake City eBay Employees Ring in the New Year By Paying It Forward
- Jan 7, 2010
- Green@eBay
- In Action
- JD Norton
All too often, during the New Year, we are anxious to leave the past behind. We have traditions for wiping the slate clean, symbolically discarding the things from the past year that troubled us. If 2009 taught us anything, it's that we sometimes forget about the little stuff, the everyday things around us that help us get through tough times. Inspired by the same sentiment as breathing new life into old things, eBay employees in Salt Lake City, UT teamed up with Eve, a city-wide celebration to welcome the coming year. Unofficially dubbed "eBay It Forward," the point was to celebrate those special, everyday things that can have such a big impact on our lives.
From December 29th - 31st, Salt Lake City hosted the New Year's celebration reminiscent of the Winter Olympic Games held there in 2002. Eve was filled with live music, arts performances, dance parties, DJs and other entertainment. The idea for eBay's campaign was for employees, family members or even people from the community to identify one item that helped get them or their family through the year... maybe they had a rough patch and something helped ease the pain; maybe it was something they got during an awesome summer stay-cation. Regardless of what it was, they were encouraged to bring it to the eBay pavilion at the Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City , fill out a card sharing their story and then place their item on the community display. People then had the opportunity to purchase them through Giving Works.
Although the experience of sharing ones most precious items is fulfilling in and of itself, eBay SLC wanted to find a way to connect the community and bring these stories to life. So, community members were asked to bring their items to the eBay pavilion at Eve to be put on display, along with handwritten notes telling each objects story. As eBay's campaign gave new, hope-filled uses to the things in the world that already exits, it sought to connect the past year with the coming year. It connected members of the Salt Lake community with one another, as well as the global eBay community. It established a tradition of paying forward the good things from the prior year in hopes that they may help someone else in the year to come.
Become a Green Team member and join the conversation. Or simply sign in to speak up.
Sign In / Register
Comments (56718320)