WAWA, Pa. -- From October 3 through November 30, 38 Wawa stores will be hosting American Red Cross blood drive sites in four of the company's operating states: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.
The Red Cross is urging all eligible donors to donate blood now to help increase blood supplies, which are currently critically low and patients are at risk for not receiving the blood transfusions they need. Recent weather conditions experienced across the nation is a contributing factor to the shortage, it said.
Last year, Wawa associates and customers donated more than 2,961 units of blood chainwide. The retailer's goal for 2011 is to collect 4,000 units of blood. The company's summer campaigns have collected 3,202 units chain-wide year to date, breaking all prior year's records.
Wawa associates have supported the Red Cross blood drives for more than two decades. During the past nine years, the company has collected more than 19,282 units of blood during the chain-wide drives.
Wawa's blood drives are open to the public. They are staffed by Wawa volunteers, who give of their time, and they donate their blood for this important, life-saving effort; a single blood donation can help as many as three people. As an added incentive, successful donors will receive a coupon for a free pint of Wawa iced tea or fruit drink.
The whole process of giving blood takes about an hour. The donation itself takes about 10 minutes. Donors must bring the appropriate photo identification, such as a driver's license or American Red Cross donor card.
Separately, through in-store collection efforts, Wawa raised a record $366,755 in its annual effort to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) sneaker sales campaign. The retailer encouraged customers to buy a $1 paper sneaker at checkout to support diabetes research, Wawa CEO Howard Stoeckel said in his latest Bird's Eye View blog post.
This year, store No. 967 in Blackwood, N.J., managed by Laura Ferry, led the way with the highest sneaker sales of any Wawa store chain wide.
Click here to read the complete blog post.
Wawa Inc., a privately held company based in Wawa, Pa., operates more than 580 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
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