WAWA, Pa. -- Wawa Inc. said that as part of its title sponsorship of Wawa Welcome America!, it is hosting a Hoagie Day celebration. On June 29, former Governor Edward G. Rendell, Philadelphia police officers and firefighters, members of the USO, members of the Pennsylvania National Army Guard and Pennsylvania Nation Air Guard, Wawa associates and hoagie-lovers across Philadelphia will come together for Hoagie Day.
The highlight of the event will be a four-and-a-half-ton hoagie sandwich, which will be built in the morning and served at the afternoon celebration. Wawa is calling [image-nocss] it a four-and-a-half-ton hoagie salute to the troops because this year Hoagie Day will focus on honoring soldiers and hometown heroes.
Welcome America! is Philadelphia's 11-day 4th of July celebration. Along with the hoagie salute, the event will feature a letter-writing station, inviting guests to write a letter to the troops to be inserted into USO care packages that will be sent this summer and during the holiday season. During the celebration, Wawa and Gov. Rendell will present a check to the USO for $20,000 to sponsor these 1,500 care packages filled with essential items and Wawa products.
"While a highlight of this year's event is certainly the four-and-a-half-ton enormous hoagie, the true highlight of Hoagie Day is celebrating the enormously valuable service our troops and local heroes provide our country each and every day," said Howard Stoeckel, Wawa's president and CEO. "We are thrilled to enter our second year as the title sponsors of Wawa Welcome America! focusing Hoagie Day on the men and women who protect our great nation and honoring the freedoms we all celebrate today."
Hoagie Day will feature a variety of activities including a charitable hoagie building competition between Philadelphia police and firefighters and members of the Pennsylvania Army Guard and the Pennsylvania Air Guard, a Hoagie Day feast and a special Hoagie Day proclamation.
Half of the huge hoagie will be Italian and half will be turkey. The morning builders will create it from hundreds of pounds of ingredients that will be loaded onto a refrigerated truck and served free to attendees later that day. Wawa also will send 5,000 hoagies built that morning to the Philabudance food bank.
After the check presentation, a double-header hoagie building competition will ensue. First, members of the Pennsylvania National Air Guard and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard will go head-to-head in a battle of bravery, skill and sandwich making expertise to benefit the charity of their choice. Then Philadelphia Police Officers and Firefighters will be challenged to see who can build the most hoagies in three minutes in the traditional Wawa way, while being cheered on by the Philadelphia Police and Fire Commissioner.
The police and firefighters are competing to benefit the Widows Fund and PAL.
And following the Hoagie Day festivities, Wawa id holding its second annual Associate Talent Event. After auditioning more than 200 associates, the company narrowed the group down to the top 12 finalists through local and regional audition rounds. These associates will go head-to-head in this American Idol-inspired singing contest.
Click hereto view associates practicing for the final round.
Emceed by "our very own Ryan Seacrest lookalike," a panel of celebrity judges will listen to the finalists' patriotic song choices and decide who deserves to be named top Wawa vocalist. While the judges are deliberating, the finalists will all come out and sing a group rendition of "Proud to be an American" as a tribute to our armed services. The winner will receive an iPad 2 an iTunes Gift Card and 2 VIP Tickets to the Welcome America! July 4th concert. The winner will perform on one of the entertainment stages at the Party on the Parkway on July 4th.
On his "Bird's Eye View" blog, Stoeckel said the singing contest "illustrates our commitment to celebrating our associates' individual talents as well as the unique spirit and camaraderie that exists here among the Wawa family. I couldn't be prouder of our associates' conviction to making this event and the entire Wawa Welcome America! celebration a one-of-a-kind, spectacular event." (Click here to read the whole blog post.)
Wawa is also distributing 10,000 samples of its new Frozen Lemonade, Raspberry and Strawberry smoothie flavors during the Welcome America! events.
Wawa Inc., based in Wawa, Pa., operates more than 570 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
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