Wawa celebrated “Wawa Welcome America” during the annual Hoagie Day celebration, which featured a celebration that brought together the Philadelphia community for a heartfelt salute to local and national heroes.
On June 28, Wawa invited Philadelphians and hoagie lovers from across the region to take part in its great hoagie tradition — Hoagie Day. This year featured a total of 25,000 hoagies made from seven tons of ingredients, along with a celebration dedicated to honoring the military, veterans, fire and police, everyday heroes, and The Wawa Foundation’s ongoing partnership with the USO. During the event, Wawa distributed 15,000 free turkey hoagies to the public, as well as donated 10,000 hoagies to Philabundance, the Police Athletic League of Philadelphia and the Veterans Multi-Service Center. In addition, admission to Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center was free all day, courtesy of Wawa.
The inaugural Hoagie Day was held in 1992 when the hoagie was proclaimed the “Official Sandwich of Philadelphia” by then-Mayor Ed Rendell. Since Hoagie Day’s inception, the event has always focused on honoring military service members. This year continued the tradition as Wawa celebrated its ongoing partnership with the USO, a nonprofit organization that strengthens America’s military service members by connecting them to family, home and country throughout their service to the nation. During this year’s Hoagie Day event, The Wawa Foundation made a formal check presentation of $800,000 from Wawa’s in-store customer fundraising campaign to support USO programs. USO Northeast Regional President Rebecca Parkes shared acceptance remarks and the impact the support has on the organization’s mission.
Hoagie Day also featured a doubleheader “Hoagies for Heroes” competition emceed by WMMR’s Preston and Casey, where Philadelphia’s police officers and firefighters faced off in a hoagie-building competition to benefit charities of their choice. Members of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard and Navy Talent Acquisition Group (NTAG) Philadelphia then went head-to-head in a competition of their own to benefit the USO. Wawa made individual contributions of $3,000 to the charities of all four teams.
In addition to the local celebration in Philadelphia, all 1,000 Wawa stores across its operating area participated in Hoagie Day by making a donation of 30 hoagies to everyday heroes serving its local communities for a total donation of 30,000 hoagies chainwide.
“Wawa Welcome America is an incredible series of community events that honor our local heroes as we lead up to our nation’s birthday, and each year, Hoagie Day becomes even more exciting, meaningful and delicious,” said Chris Gheysens, Wawa CEO. “We look at Hoagie Day as a way to bring the community together, give back, fight hunger, and have a little fun and friendly competition in the process. We are so grateful to our heroes and want to wish them and everyone in our communities a very happy July 4th.”
Wawa Inc., a privately held company, began in 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Today, Wawa is an all day, every day stop for freshly prepared foods, beverages, coffee, fuel services and surcharge-free ATMs. Wawa stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Washington, D.C., with nearly 1,000 locations to date. The stores offer a large fresh foodservice selection, including Wawa brands such as custom prepared hoagies; freshly brewed coffee; hot breakfast sandwiches; hand-crafted specialty beverages; a dinner menu including burgers; and an assortment of soups, sides and snacks.
