Spirits all over the Wawa community are still flying high from our first ever Fit to Fly Family barbeque, the launch event of our new Wawa Wellness Journey.  In fact, my spirits have yet to leave the clouds.  We launched our journey this past Wednesday at our Wawa Beverage Center where hundreds of Wawa Associates and their families joined us to celebrate our commitment to health and wellness. 

There was truly something for everyone’s tastes and fancy, and we invited each and every associate and their family members to sample tasty and healthy snacks from our barbeque and visit more than 20 health and personal wealth stations to learn about everything from diet and nutrition to financial management and tobacco cessation.  Associates relaxed with chair massages and kids exerted endless energy in our moon bounce, slide and games – all of which focused on promoting physical activity.  We even had a dunk tank, which I happily jumped in to benefit our internal Associates in Need Fund.

I’m thrilled that everyone left our Fit to Fly Barbeque rejuvenated and excited about leading a healthier future.  At Wawa, we are renewing our commitment to wellness by helping our associates form healthier lifestyles by embracing both wellness and fitness.  This commitment is rooted in our Wawa values – particularly our commitment to Value People.  Our brand new Fit to Fly Wellness Journey enables us to focus on our associates in a way that no other program or initiative can.  We’re taking a more holistic approach that enables us to focus on every part of what keeps our associates mentally and physically healthy, from their diet to financial wealth! 

Many of our associates already are Fit to Fly champions and we hope that every Wawa associate will join the fun! 

From watching our Fit to Fly associates, I’ve noticed that there’s one common thread connecting all of them – they’re all passionate about living the healthiest lifestyle possible and they’re inspired to lift and guide others to do the same. 

Watching these eager-to-learn associates lead and participate with gusto and then share their new knowledge with their families greatly inspires me.  I hope to follow their lead to engage the entire Wawa family in wellness-related activities. 

So with our kick-off event complete, I’m happy to report that we are off to a great start!   Our family barbeque was just the beginning of a fun-packed journey to boost our associates to a whole new level in their personal wellness journey.  Already, we have started to roll-out a program called Cardio-Kinetics, a series of bio-metric measures that help you know the state of your health and learn of potential problems.  Our goal is to extend this program to every region in our company and we’re more than half way there!

This journey is one very close to my heart, no pun intended, and I’m committed to honking from behind – in encouragement of our associates – as they begin to take steps to ensure that they are fit to fly.  I know we will all gain greater speed and distance travelling together than if we flew alone.

‘Till next time…

This past Friday, July 16, we made the fourth and final stop of our 2010 Hoagiefest summer tour at our store in Lewes, Delaware.  The 60s-themed celebration was chalk full of amazing events and I was surprised at how quickly the day flew by. Then again, the same thing happened with all of this year’s Hoagiefest stops! 

At our Lewes celebration, I was thrilled that so many of our Lewes customers and our associates from surrounding stores joined the celebration – some decked out in groovy 60s-themed outfits!  They looked great next to our tie-dye next to our ¼ mile long hoagie.  Speaking of that hoagie, our store associates started building the masterpiece at 7:30AM to prepare the feast that would satisfy the day’s hungry hoagie lovers.  I’m proud to say that each associate also couldn’t wait to fill the Food Bank of Delaware’s truck when they came to pick up our donated truckload of hoagies. There truly is nothing more rewarding than volunteering your time to help others in need.

But we couldn’t stop with just a ¼ mile of hoagies, could we?  Of course not!  To round out the day, we held one of our signature Hoagiefest events – our Hoagies for Heroes Hoagie Building Competition, in which members of the local State police department, the Lewes Fire Department and two teams from the United States Army Reserves and recruiting branch raced against the clock to build as many hoagies as possible in three minutes.  I was pretty impressed that in just a few short minutes the teams built as many as they did, the State Police won the bragging rights as hoagie-building champions with 37 total, but all four teams were winners: We presented each team with a check to donate to their charity of choice. 

I can safely say that this year’s Hoagiefest Tour was the best yet. Thousands of Wawa fanatics feasted on over a mile of our hoagies.  But it wasn’t just the food that made Hoagiefest such a hit this year – it was all of you, our customers and our wonderful associates, who really made this year’s events special!  It was rewarding to watch all the children (and children at heart) who, while beaming from ear to ear, jumped at the chance to play hoagie games and take pictures with the Hoagie-mobile.  That’s what Hoagiefest is truly about – a time when we can connect with and give back to the communities that have loyally supported us throughout the years.  

With our last Hoagiefest event of the year behind us, I’m left eagerly awaiting next year’s celebrations.  I’m not sure how we’ll be able to top Hoagiefest 2010, but we’ll sure try! 

‘Till next time…

Happy July 4th everyone!  It’s hard to believe that the Welcome America! Festivities have come to a close, but after a truly jammed-packed and exciting 10 days, I am left reflecting on this incredibly memorable first year of our Welcome America! sponsorship.

A few weeks ago I wrote that all of us at Wawa were proud to celebrate Philadelphia traditions and to also have the opportunity to weave in our own traditions throughout the festival.  I spoke about two of our signature events, Go Forth and Learn and Hoagie Day which we were excited to be launching as part of the Welcome America! festivities (http://www.wawa.com/Blog/post/2010/06/10/Gearing-Up-for-Wawa-Welcome-America.aspx).  

Kicking off the festival with our Go Forth and Learn event, it was incredible to see how passionate young children were to learn about our dairy history.   They had a thirst for knowledge (no pun intended) and even though it was close to 100 degrees outside, the kids couldn’t get enough of our interactive milking station, our story book readings, and our incredible associates who were handing out milk samples, manning different dairy stations, and making sure no child’s question went unanswered.

And then there was our Hoagie Day celebration which began at 5:00AM.  I joined 150 smiling and enthusiastic associates and Philabundance President and Executive Director Bill Clarke that morning, in building the mile and a quarter long hoagie to be served to the crowd later that day, a portion of which was donated to local food banks.  You never would have guessed it was 5AM by all the singing, dancing, and hoagie building activity that was going on!  All of our associates created an infectious enthusiasm that morning that kept on pumping right into our evening Hoagie Day festivities, making the return of Hoagie Day to Philadelphia bigger and better than ever before—just as promised!

And of course it all culminated this past weekend during the July 4th parade on the parkway which drew in thousands of people to watch the festive, patriotic parade, which included hundreds of Wawa Associates; or the tens of thousands that listened to the Goo Goo Dolls concert, watched the fireworks, and celebrated our nation’s birthday with family and friends. 

It’s amazing to think we gave away more than 90,000 beverages throughout these past10 days--40,000 alone on Sunday, as well as flags, coupons, hats and hoagies.  But more than anything, it’s amazing to know that close to 1,000 of our associates participated in events throughout the festival schedule, making everyone who attended the events feel like a part of our family.  We feel proud and honored to be able to be so much a part of the Welcome America! events and I feel proud and honored to be part of a company with associates who make our commitments to the communities we serve lasting and meaningful.

“Till next time…