Wawa Inc. announced this year’s Wawa Day celebration will honor both its 55th anniversary in convenience retailing and the 5th anniversary of The Wawa Foundation.
In April 2014, Wawa celebrated its 50th anniversary and marked the milestone with the first Wawa Day event, which included the launch of The Wawa Foundation, a non-profit organization founded to encompass most of Wawa’s charitable giving.
Since the Foundation’s inception, Wawa and The Wawa Foundation have donated more than $66 million to causes related to health, hunger and everyday heroes.
This year, Wawa Day is on April 11 with the theme “high-fives for fulfilling lives.”
“Wawa Day gives us a wonderful opportunity to step back and thank the millions of customers we’ve served over the past 55 years, who have made us an integral part of the communities we serve,” said Wawa President and CEO Chris Gheysens. “This year’s Wawa Day is particularly special because we are also celebrating that, in just over five years, Wawa and The Wawa Foundation have already surpassed our initial giving goal and continue to support more organizations and communities across our operating area. We could have never achieved this level of support for such meaningful partners alone and thank all of our customers who gave generously to our in-store campaigns and make everything we do possible. Happy Wawa Day, everyone, and cheers to 55 years of fulfilling lives!”
The Wawa Foundation will announce three contributions of $1 million each to three of its national partners:
- The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, to support LLS’s new Children’s Initiative, a groundbreaking clinical trial program aimed at delivering precision medicine therapy to children with cancer and funding research for a cure
- Check Out Hunger, to support 23 Feeding America Food Banks operating in Wawa’s markets
- Special Olympics, to support programs for thousands of athletes involved with Special Olympics
Wawa is also celebrating the occasion by offering customers free coffee of any size. Wawa expects to give away more than 2 million cups of coffee to customers at its more than 840 stores.
Wawa operates more than 840 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Washington, D.C.
Wawa will also open 63 new stores in 2019, including entry into new markets for Wawa in Miami, Florida, and Ocala, Florida.
