We may have been experiencing winter-like temperatures here at Red Roof early last Friday morning, but all of us were warmed by the hearts and spirits of our associates helping to provide our troops abroad, with a taste of home.

On Friday, Nov. 18, close to 80 Wawa associates teamed up with members of the USO to provide our troops with a taste of home through the form of Wawa Care Packages.  Together, we all felt proud as we assembled these care packages filled with Wawa coffee, nuts and cashews as well as letters expressing thoughts and thanks from associates and community members.  It was especially meaningful for many of us from the area, as we knew that these care packages would be shipped to deployed military, primarily made up of units from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, who are now serving in Afghanistan and Kuwait.  It was uplifting to know that our friends and neighbors, who serve our great country each and every day, would have a little taste of the familiar, right in time for Thanksgiving.

This event is all part of a larger care package shipment called Operation Stocking Stuffer, an initiative organized by USO of Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey (Liberty USO) who will send thousands of care packages to our troops. After two hours of care package creations, our event ended with a bang as military Humvees drove off with the packages to the Horsham Air Station, where they would be added to larger packages and then shipped to deployed military.

For all of us at Wawa, this event was part of our long commitment to support our troops, and in our small way, say thank you.  We have been sending coffee at the request of soldiers since 2002, and throughout the years, have sent thousands of shipments of coffee to help boost our troops’ morale and their alertness!

This summer, we partnered with the USO for our Wawa Welcome America! celebration and had a special letter writing station at our Hoagie Day extravaganza.  This partnership allowed us to sponsor care packages which were sent over the summer and included the customer letters written during Hoagie Day, thanking our troops for all that they do. 

We’ve received countless letters from the troops thanking us for providing a taste of the familiar, so we want all the troops out there to know, the coffee will keep on coming.  As Thanksgiving approaches, we give thanks to each of you who keep our great country safe. 

“Till Next time…