When Charlotte Liebling was in college, she volunteered at a store that sold secondhand goods. She observed people bringing in items to donate, including stuffed toys. Liebling could tell that the toys held great emotional value for their owners. So she felt sad when the toys were sold very cheaply, put in the dog-toy section, or — worse — thrown away.
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。她观察到人们带着物品来捐赠，包括毛绒玩具。利布林看得出来，这些玩具对它们的主人来说有着巨大的情感价值。所以，当玩具被廉价出售，被放在狗玩具区，或者更糟的是被扔掉时，她感到很难过。
One night when she got home from work, Liebling started doing some research. She realized this wasn’t happening only in her town. Worldwide, she learned, millions of toys end up in landfills every year. All through the night, Liebling drew ideas on notes and posted them on her walls. “If we can change the perception that stuffed toys lose their value once they’ve been loved,” she recalls thinking, “then we can show people they have so much left in them, and give them to others.” That’s how the Loved Before toy-adoption agency 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。她了解到，在世界范围内，每年都有数百万件玩具被扔进垃圾填埋场。整个晚上，利布林都把想法写在笔记上，贴在墙上。“如果我们能改变毛绒玩具一旦被爱就失去价值的观念，”她回忆说，“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。”这就是“曾经的爱”玩具收养机构的由来。
The process starts when someone donates a soft toy. People can do so through the mail, or by taking a toy to a local drop-off point in the United Kingdom. That’s where the company is based. The original owner writes down the name of the toy and a story about it. This can include the creature’s likes and dislikes, its favorite things to do, and an adventure it’s been on. Next, the toy is cleaned, photographed, and packaged with its name and story. Every Monday, toys are posted for adoption on the Loved Before website. The company makes a charitable donation of at least half of the profit from the sale of each toy.
当有人捐赠一个毛绒玩具时，这个过程就开始了。人们可以通过邮寄，或者把玩具带到英国当地的投递点。那是公司的总部所在地。原来的主人写下玩具的名字和关于它的故事。这可以包括这个小家伙的好恶，它最喜欢做的事情，以及它所经历的冒险。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。公司将每件玩具销售利润的至少一半捐给慈善机构。
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 perceptions 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看法。”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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