Don Price, guest blogger for the week, here.     For 20 years, I was Wawa’s Executive Vice President, and now, for the past ten years following my retirement, I’ve had a new position at Wawa — Minister of the Magic.  My job is to figure out what makes the "magic" happen here at Wawa…and to make sure it happens more often. 

As Minister of Magic I wear many different, eh, magic hats, so to speak.  I visit stores on a regular basis.  I talk to Wawa customers and associates to determine what forms that "magic" bond between them.  I attend in-store celebrations and take fabulous pictures, capturing the smiles and warmth that make our stores so special. 

And in my current role, one thing has become abundantly clear:  I don’t create the magic-- Wawa associates do.  I’m just lucky enough to have the chance to celebrate them, and to recognize the difference they make every day in their stores and in their communities.

I attended an event last week that really showed just how magical our people are.  It was a conference of 200 professionals hosted by the Associated Persons for Supported Employment of New Jersey http://www.njapse.org/ (APSENJ), meeting to learn best practices for supporting jobs for people with disabilities.  Today, we employ hundreds of associates and work with dozens of supported organizations throughout the company.

The highlight of the event was a salute to Wawa in which the APSENJ recognized a very special Wawa associate named Robbie Queen, and awarded his General Manager, Mike Pastore, with the Best Employer of the Year award.  Robbie is deaf, but that’s no problem.  He’s a fabulous associate and his store team and customers adore him.  In fact, customers travel out of their way to come to Wawa store #948 in Whiting, NJ just because Robbie is there.

Just like the rest of our Wawa associates, Robbie makes a difference.  And right off the bat, Mike Pastore could see just how special Robbie is.  That’s why he hired him.  Then Mike did for Robbie the same thing he does for every new associate--he set him up to win and to keep succeeding.  Not only did he give him training, coaching and confidence, but Mike’s entire team also rallied around the opportunity to help Robbie, learning sign language on their own. 

In his acceptance remarks, Mike talked about how enthusiasm, caring and doing the right thing is a way of life at Wawa.  He held up the story of Robbie and his store team as an example of Wawa’s values-in-action — an example that captures the essence of the magic of Wawa.

As the Minister of Magic, another job was to research stories and images for our book:  "Images of America: Wawa." http://www.wawa.com/WawaStore/storeproduct315.aspx  This research even further confirmed that part of the magic secret of our success is our company values-in-action.  Sure, every company says it has values, but ours are our compass.  They are so alive you can feel them, because our people live them every day.  People like Mike Pastore and Robbie Queen.  These people make a difference in all the lives they touch, including mine.  That’s the secret to Wawa’s “magic”!  Thank you all!