Seems eBay users are quite the animal lovers.
And that’s why eBay Foundation has chosen Best Friends Animal Society as one of three organizations to give money to through its Community Gives Campaign.
Last weekend at the eBay Conference Gala in Chicago, the eBay brass presented Best Friends with a check for $334,000, which will go toward building a brand new state-of-the-art Puppy Care Center at Best Friends.
“It was a huge event with about 7,000 people all waving and cheering for the animals,” says Best Friends president Michael Mountain, who was at the conference to accept the check from eBay. “We were very touched. And most of all, this is very good news for all the dogs – the puppies and the breeding dogs – who are caught up in the puppy mill trade.”
So why did eBay Foundation choose Best Friends as one of the organizations it would most like to help through its Community Gives Campaign? It’s all for the love of puppies.
In puppy mills, dogs lead dismal lives. Mother and father dogs spend their entire lives in cages churning out puppies for profit, and when their breeding days are over, they’re auctioned off to the highest bidder. And many of their puppies, who suffer from birth defects like weak hips, deafness and mental problems, are also cast off.
Best Friends and other humane organizations have been shutting down these commercial breeding operations. But without a place to call their own, many of these dogs and puppies have nowhere to go to get the care they need.
Now, thanks to donations from eBay users and eBay Foundation, Best Friends will be able to break ground on its new Puppy Care Center, a wonderful safe haven where these dogs will get the help they need to heal, and to learn to trust people. (For background stories and details, visit the Puppy Care Center website.)
It all started with an eBay Foundation survey of active eBay community members to see which causes were closest to their hearts. The foundation looked for organizations that had a strong commitment to making the world a better place. Best Friends is one of those organizations.
“There are a lot of animal welfare people who use eBay,” says Debbie McCullough, grants manager for Best Friends. “They were immediately attracted to the puppy building.”
One day, someone from eBay Foundation called Debbie. “They called and asked, ‘Are you interested?’ and of course I said ‘Yes,’” she says.
The money is still coming in from the eBay community. “The foundation said if the community donated another $100,000, eBay would match it dollar for dollar,” Debbie says.
Through eBay Foundation’s Community Gives Campaign, eBay users can donate money to Best Friends using PayPal, or they can buy and sell with eBay Giving Works to benefit Best Friends. They’re also encouraged to volunteer at Best Friends.
Best Friends is in good company. The other two organizations chosen for the Community Gives Campaign are First Book, which provides new books to low-income children, and Oxfam America, which supplies clean, safe water and helps alleviate poverty for tens of thousands of people in Ethiopia and Zambia.
To learn more about the Best Friends Puppy Care Center, click here. For more on eBay Foundation’s Community Gives Campaign, visit the website.
Written by Sandy Miller
Photo of Michael Mountain and eBay's John Donahoe
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