In 1972, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) was leading a widespread campaign to get the Endangered Species Act (ESA) passed by Congress.

Tom Kimball, Executive Vice President of the NWF approached the CEO of 7-Eleven’s parent company, The Southland Corporation, John Thompson, and informed him about the NWF's strategy to secure habitat refuge for the Bald Eagle just as soon as the ESA was passed.

Kimball did not know that 7-Eleven, which was rapidly expanding, was looking for a way in which it could make itself more visible as a "community" member. Thompson was well aware that in many of the major metropolitan cities in which 7-Eleven was expanding, that smog was a “felt” experience. Thompson, who had a son,  was well aware endangered species were getting a great deal of media play and even Dr. Seuss's book, "The Lorax", about corporate greed and environmentalism had been produced as a motion picture in 1972.

Slurpee, a product targeted to kids and teens, launched in 1967, had become a real, consistent contributor to 7-Eleven’s profits. The Stanford Agency had done a remarkable job in creating Super Hero cartoon cups which kids came and bought all the time.

Slurpee was the one product where profit margins were so high that the company could give a small donation such a project.

Kimball said that it seemed likely that with a list of more than 50 different species which were endangered, that such a promotion would appeal to the widest number of 7-Eleven customers. "Endangered" was a definitely a "hot button" word.

NWF had been working on a Bald Eagle refuge project for many months. Kimball said that with 5,000 stores, 7-Eleven would easily be the largest national sponsor with the Bald Eagle, a project aiming to protect the symbol of America he felt the “cause” would be something about which all Americans could be proud at this time of the messy wind-down of the Vietnam war.