Las Vegas Weekly

Sluts and schools? A reader’s striking metaphor for Zappos’ latest good deed

Zappos has already done a lot for Downtown, and they don’t even live there yet.

Imagine a slut. It’s a dark and rainy night, and her hair looks it. Not much glamour. Not pizzazzy. Bad night to stand on the corner and strut stuff under the street light. Economy is horrible anyway, and there aren’t the hordes of out-of-towners anymore. Along comes some guy and helps the slut. Gets her some job doing something else. He helps the down and out. He sinks money into people and possibilities. Where do guys like this come from? He shares the load with strangers he hasn’t even met! We need schools where a kid can grow to become some guy.

Reader Joe Lamy posted this vivid comment on a recent Las Vegas Sun story. It wasn’t about prostitutes. It was about local hero company Zappos donating $300,000—plus more than $1 million from CEO Tony Hsieh—to education efforts in Downtown Las Vegas.

Zappos will move its headquarters to the area in 2013, and Hsieh said he hopes to attract dedicated teachers to live and work alongside him. They will come from Teach for America, which trains recent college graduates and working professionals to teach in schools serving poor children. The model has been criticized by the education community (it’s just a resume nugget; the teachers don’t stay; it undermines the expertise of other education professionals) since a Princeton graduate student proposed it 20 years ago, but Hsieh believes it will energize Downtown schools.

“We are excited about our partnership with Teach for America, as well as the opportunity to help bring more energy and passion to Downtown Las Vegas,” he told the Sun.

Zappos will partner with Sunrise Acres Elementary School, J.D. Smith Middle School and Roy Martin Middle School, meaning employees will volunteer to help build community relationships and support. Given the investments Zappos and Hsieh have already made in Downtown Vegas (purchasing the rights to First Friday, donating $2 million to the Smith Center and helping fund a community tech library), it’s hard not to draw halos. As Lamy’s parting shot suggests: We are damn lucky, huh?