What a wonderful, memorable weekend we just had! Sure it was chilly outside, but the warmth exuding from our second annual Operation Brotherly Love Event certainly warmed everyone’s hearts and souls.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter joined over 1,100 dedicated volunteers), including many Wawa Associates, and deserving families to help more than 180 Philadelphia-area families in need, and provide more than 500 children with holiday gifts. It all happened this past Saturday at our exciting carnival-themed Operation Brotherly Love Event, designed to spread joy and fun during the holidays.
It was an incredible day where each of the volunteers made this day as special as possible for the children and families the event supported. The volunteers even brought their own families from all over the city and region and true family-to-family connections were made. There was even a Family Photo Station at the event, providing a photo for every family in attendance to capture these special moments in time.
The idea for Operation Brotherly Love actually started ten years ago when a small group of professionals known as the Yellow Brick Road Foundation (YBR) were interested in helping others and sought a way to provide more than just monetary support - wanting a deeper level of interaction with the community. The group is now in its second year of partnership with area corporations and community organizations including: Wawa, Urban Outfitters (URBN), Operation Warm, the Mayor’s Office of Community Services, additional business partners and area celebrities. Together, all of these organizations, with the help of more than 400 individual volunteers, joined together to host the largest holiday party in the history of the foundation. In fact this year we were even joined by some very special members of the local media, like CBS anchor Dave Huddleston who attended with his family to spread holiday cheer. 
The event was even more exciting than last year, featuring a plethora of festivities including carnival games, balloon sculptors, face painters, magicians, dancing and arts & crafts. At the end of the evening, every one of the children received a personalized gift that had been selected as one of the season’s “best selling items,” and the adults attending received a gift courtesy of URBN and a gift card for an area retailer. In addition, Operation Warm, the nation’s largest non-profit providing new winter coats to children-in-need, gave a brand new winter coat to each child in attendance. It was heart-warming to see the children excitedly tried on coats, searching for the perfect fitting jacket, and selecting the color and style they liked best.
Operation Brotherly Love truly spread joy to area families during the holidays and inspired others to do the same for their communities. At Wawa we consider our customers, associates and communities a part of our extended family, and it was meaningful to watch as all attendees quickly became part of one large family, helping each other embrace the holiday spirit. The City of Brotherly love truly embodied the meaning of its name this past weekend, and this feeling is one I hope all of our customers feel in our stores not only during the holidays, but every day of the year. So here’s to living each day with a commitment to being a good neighborhood and lending a helping hand. Happy Holidays everyone!
‘Till next time…
Operation Brotherly Love_KYW_Eyewitness News (6.39 mb)