|
|
|
Wawa
Day Celebrates 55 Years Since Wawa’s Founding and 5 Years of The Wawa Foundation
Building Stronger Communities by Supporting Non-Profits in the Areas of
Health, Hunger and Everyday Heroes with $1 Million Contributions
Wawa, PA – April 2019 / Newsmaker Alert / Wawa, Inc. announces this year’s Wawa Day celebration will honor its 55th anniversary in convenience retailing and the fifth anniversary of The Wawa Foundation. Wawa Day will be held on Thursday, April 11, and themed around high-fives for fulfilling lives! Wawa will celebrate the occasion by offering customers any size free coffee, chain-wide, all day! Throughout the day, Wawa expects to give away more than 2 million free cups of coffee to customers at its more than 840 stores across PA, NJ, DE, MD, VA, FL and Washington, DC. In
April of 1964, Wawa entered the retail business when it opened its
first convenience store in Folsom, PA. In April of 2014, Wawa celebrated
its 50th anniversary in convenience retailing and marked the milestone
with the first Wawa Day event, which included the launch of The
Wawa Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded to encompass
most of Wawa’s charitable giving. Since the Foundation’s inception, Wawa
and The Wawa Foundation have donated more than $66 million in support to
causes related to health, hunger and everyday heroes.
This year’s April 11th Wawa Day celebration gives Wawa the opportunity to celebrate high-fives for fulfilling lives by toasting the community with free coffee and announcing five big reasons to celebrate, including our combined support of health, hunger, and everyday heroes, as well as Wawa’s growth and new innovations. As part of the Wawa Day celebration, The Wawa Foundation will announce three contributions of $1 million each to three of its national partners. 1. Health – The Wawa Foundation will announce a contribution of $1 million to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to support LLS’s new Children’s Initiative, a groundbreaking clinical trial program aimed at delivering precision medicine therapy to children with cancer and funding research for a cure. The Wawa Foundation will be a founding partner of the initiative. 2. Hunger – The Wawa Foundation will announce a contribution of $1 million to Check Out Hunger to support 23 Feeding America Food Banks operating in Wawa’s markets. Proceeds to Check Out Hunger and Special Olympics (see below) come from The Wawa Foundation’s in-store customer donation campaign, and both campaigns recently surpassed the $1 million mark – the first time the in-store campaigns have achieved this milestone. 3. Everyday Heroes – The Wawa Foundation will announce a contribution of $1 million to Special Olympics to support programs for thousands of athletes involved with Special Olympics in NJ, PA, DE, MD, VA, FL and Washington, DC. Funds for Special Olympics come from The Wawa Foundation’s in-store customer donation campaign recently surpassed the $1 million mark, as stated above. 4. Growth – Wawa will celebrate a historic year ahead in 2019, as it will open 63 new stores throughout the year across all six states and DC, including entry into new markets for Wawa in Miami, FL; and Ocala, FL, this spring. 5. New Innovations – Wawa is continuing to push the boundaries of customer access by meeting customers where they live and on their terms. This will include new store-level catering menus and packaging available the first week of May, and the addition of new delivery territories and enhanced technology throughout the year designed to make the customer experience more convenient than ever. “Wawa Day gives us a wonderful opportunity to step back and thank the millions of customers we’ve served over the past 55 years, who have made us an integral part of the communities we serve,” said Chris Gheysens, Wawa President and CEO. “This year’s Wawa Day is particularly special because we are also celebrating that, in just over five years, Wawa and The Wawa Foundation have already surpassed our initial giving goal and continue to support more organizations and communities across our operating area. We could have never achieved this level of support for such meaningful partners alone, and thank all of our customers who gave generously to our in-store campaigns and make everything we do possible. Happy Wawa Day, everyone, and cheers to 55 years of fulfilling lives!” Also, as part of Wawa Day, Wawa will be celebrating its associates with in-store digital tributes featuring photos of the many “Day Brightener” associates at Wawa who embody the spirit of community service and volunteering. This comes as a part of our celebrating National Volunteer Week. So many Wawa associates go out into their communities to make a difference in the lives of the people Wawa serves. About
Wawa, Inc.
About
The Wawa Foundation
Media
Contact:
|