American Eagle and "PIF"

Nice story, please shop at American Eagle Outfitters... Please kids and parents put American Eagle on your shopping list... for this reason: A few weeks back, there was a fire in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Though I live 1000 away, it just stuck in my head after my friend told me about it (she lives there) It was both a good and bad story... nobody died, but there was a lot of physical loss. 20 college students were housed in the 3 buildings that were lost in the fire and they lost everything.

That same afternoon she told me about it, I was packing up my son’s things for winter to ship to him at his college in Virginia and I realized that better than 90% of his favorite things I would be shipping were from American Eagle. I took a chance and searched and searched for someone's email address with American Eagle Outfitters that might want to and be able to help. The subject of my email was “Pay It Forward”. I hoped this phrase had become such a part of our fiber now that it would get the CEO’s attention long enough to read my email.

I sent off the email about 30 minutes before I left for a meeting for the day. I explained what had happened and asked if they would consider helping. To say I was shocked is an understatement because within 20 minutes, the CEO had responded and had his staff working on gift cards for these kids. Every kid that lost something was getting a gift card that would cover a full outfit from American Eagle Outfitters. It occurred to me, that even jeans, a t-shirt and a sweatshirt could make a student feel snug and warm and not so "without" in a stressful time as midterms.

I have to say that just the fact they would help in a small way was great enough, but then the fact they were so generous and lastly that someone could and would act so quickly was one of those great "Pay It Forward" moments that restores your faith in mankind.

Sam Durham
Mayo Civic Center