Happy Values Day!  This week we held our company-wide celebration of our six core values: Value People, Delight Customers, Embrace Change, Do the Right Thing, Do Things Right, and Passion for Winning. On Wednesday, all of the members of the Wawa family took time out of their days to reflect on our values and personally personally thank their colleagues for going above and beyond in living our values.

If you walked into any of our 572 stores on Values Day, you may have noticed a slew of values-centric activities going on! We had values-inspired contests and giveaways, and every associate was wearing a special edition “I Valued” sticker as part of their uniform for the day. The “I Valued” stickers were our way of keeping our values at the center of the conversation that day, and served as a visual reminder of the important role our values play in fostering the unique company culture we have here at Wawa.

One of the most exciting parts of Values Day occurred at our Store 286 in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. I traveled to our Sinking Spring store for a special lunch on the road to recognize associates Kevin Gibson and Ioannis Kitixis, for serving as ambassadors of Wawa’s values.

To date we have received thousands of values submissions about our associates living our values, but I was blown away when I read the submissions about both Kevin Gibson and Ioannis Kitixis.  And I was even more impressed when I saw that these value champions had both submitted values stories about each other unbeknownst to the other person!  
So let me tell you a little bit about Kevin and Ioannis.  I was especially moved when I heard that Kevin offered to cut the grass all summer long of a Wawa customer battling cancer, too weak to do so himself. That act is a truly exemplary testament to Kevin’s kindness and commitment to Do The Right Thing.  And I was equally moved when I heard that Ioannis took it upon himself to personally drive hoagies to the house of an elderly customer, after she underwent surgery and was too sick to go out.  To celebrate both Kevin and Ioannis, we had an in-store celebration in their honor and then went out to a special lunch with their friends and family. 

Kevin and Ioannis and the many values champions that work in all of our stores throughout our company continue to inspire us.  Values Day enabled us to celebrate the parts of our culture that make Wawa a place where customers and associates feel like family, and where associates take time out of their busy days to recognize their co-workers. 

Happy Values Day everyone.  Thanks to all of our associates for making our Values Day so successful and carrying on our values each and every day.

‘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…