When Charlotte Liebling was in college, she volunteered at a store that sold secondhand goods. She saw people bringing in old things to donate, including stuffed toys (毛绒玩具). The toys held great emotional value for their owners. So she felt uncomfortable when the toys were sold very cheaply or put in the dog-toy section (区域).
夏洛特·利布林上大学时，在一家出售二手商品的商店做志愿者。她看到人们带着旧东西来捐赠，包括毛绒玩具。这些玩具对它们的主人来说有着巨大的情感价值。所以，当玩具卖得很便宜或放在狗玩具区时，她感到不舒服。
One night when she got home from work, Liebling started doing some research. She realized this wasn’t happening only in her town. Worldwide, millions of old toys end up in landfills (废物填埋地) every year. Liebling kept thinking all night. “If we can change the idea that stuffed toys lose their value once they’ve been loved,” she thought, “then we can show people they have so much left in them, and give them to others.” That’s how the Loved Before company began.
一天晚上，当她下班回家时，利布林开始做一些研究。她意识到这不仅仅发生在她的镇上。在世界范围内，每年都有数百万的旧玩具被扔进垃圾填埋场。利布林整晚都在思考。“如果我们能改变毛绒玩具一旦被爱就失去价值的观念，”她想，“那么我们就可以向人们展示它们还有很多东西，并把它们送给别人。”“曾经的爱”公司就是这样成立的。
How does it work? People donate soft toys. They can do so through email, or by taking a toy to a local store. The original owner writes down the name of the toy and a story about it. Next, the toy is cleaned, photographed, and packaged with its name and story. Every Monday, toys are posted for adoption (领养) on the Loved Before website. The company makes a donation of at least half of the money from the sale of each toy.
它是如何工作的?人们捐赠毛绒玩具。他们可以通过电子邮件，或者把玩具带到当地的商店。原来的主人写下玩具的名字和关于它的故事。接下来，玩具被清洗，拍照，并包装上它的名字和故事。每周一，“曾经的爱”的网站上都会发布玩具供领养。公司将每个玩具的销售额至少捐出一半。
Since its creation in 2019, Loved Before has sold more than 50,000 stuffed toys. But the company’s goal is more than “just trying to save some toys from landfills,” Liebling says. “We’re trying to change people’s minds on a really wide level.” She explains that Loved Before hopes to teach kids “about the value of loving secondhand things again, in the hope that it will go far beyond the idea of teddy bears.”
自2019年成立以来，“曾经的爱”已经售出了5万多个毛绒玩具。但利布林说，该公司的目标不仅仅是“试图从垃圾填埋场中拯救一些玩具”。我们正试图在更广泛的层面上改变人们的想法。”她解释说，“曾经的爱”希望教会孩子们“再次热爱二手物品的价值，希望它能远远超出泰迪熊的概念。”
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