PHILADELPHIA -- The world’s attention recently was on Wawa’s hometown of Philadelphia as Pope Francis and the World Meeting of Families came to the City of Brotherly Love in September.
The World Meeting of Families is the world’s largest Catholic gathering of families, held every three years in different locations across the globe. It brings people together from all over the world with a common mission to celebrate and strengthen the bonds of family and understand its importance in today’s society.
In keeping with tradition, Pope Francis announced that he would attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which added to the excitement, not just for Catholics and Christians but also for people of many faiths who view him as a compelling individual and leader. An event of this magnitude is a huge undertaking, requiring many months of planning and support to ensure success and provide the best experience for the hundreds of thousands of attendees expected, and we at Wawa knew we needed to be a part of it.
I was born, raised and educated in the Catholic faith. That, however, had little to do with my desire to participate in the planning and support of the pope’s visit. Rather, as a committed corporate partner of the city, I believe it is an obligation as a business leader to do what’s right for our communities, including helping in areas of need, and especially when a unique intersection of your mission and culture collide with opportunity. That’s what I viewed this as: an opportunity for Wawa to play a small role in this historic event and do our part to proudly represent Philadelphia and welcome the many pilgrims the Wawa Way—with open arms and a warm smile.
Once in a Lifetime
Pope Francis’s servant-leadership style places people first, and his more progressive views are making positive changes in the Roman Catholic Church. His authenticity has a charm to it, and I am drawn to him as a leader.
As a member of the World Family leadership cabinet, I had the opportunity to join Archbishop Charles Chaput, Mayor Michael Nutter and other Philadelphia business leaders for a series of meetings and briefings in Rome to plan and ensure success of event. It was an important step for the event, but also provided once-in-a-lifetime access to parts of Vatican City that will leave an indelible mark on me. More important, I brought my 15-year-old daughter, Danielle, so she could share the experience, and I know it left a similar impression on her.
Back at Wawa, it was a heavy but worthwhile lift to prepare for the meeting and the papal visit. Many planning teams—including our supply chain, staffing, security, volunteering and safety— required months of intense preparation and coordination with myriad local, state and federal agencies.
For this unique event, we threw out all the traditional success measures of retail. Instead, we focused on the simple mission of helping Philadelphia show the rest of the world why it deserves the title of the City of Brotherly Love.
We partnered with the World Meeting of Families to create a fantastic map and guide to Philadelphia and the events. Every Wawa store in the city had an ambassador—a Wawa associate, armed with maps and guides—who greeted all who walked into our stores, and sometimes outside our stores. Their role was to welcome the countless visitors and provide assistance. It was not to tell them about our products. This was not about Wawa, but rather about how Wawa could serve the broader community. To that end, we accelerated work and successfully completed our new flagship Wawa store in Center City two months ahead of schedule—and just in time for this major event.
But even more important and inspiring is what happened outside of our stores. Hundreds of Wawa volunteers helped give out 1.5 million bottles of Wawa water and partnered with the Salvation Army to feed every emergency responder (more than 8,000) meals for three days—about 90,000 meals in total. No truck delivery, hand delivery or individual request was too great for our volunteers and our behind-the-scenes supply chain teams. These gestures were not just consistent with our purpose, but also with Pope Francis’ teachings.
The Only One in the Room
Moments before the pontiff’s departure from Philadelphia, I had the opportunity to shake Pope Francis’ hand and thank him for coming to our city and for his servant leadership. It was an incredible experience to meet such an amazing leader. His ability to connect as if you were the only person in the room was incredible. Even more moving was the time he devoted to families clearly in need of his prayer. It was touching, inspiring and humbling.
Being in his presence gave me a chance to reflect and contemplate how I could take the lessons he imparts through his words and his actions, and incorporate them into my daily life and daily actions.
At Wawa, we have a culture based on servant leadership, where we exist to serve others. So on the heels of Pope Francis’ visit, I asked myself: As a leader at Wawa, do I make people feel as if they are the only ones in the room when I meet them? How can I work to make sure everyone realizes they have my singular focus, time and attention?
In the final analysis, this will be viewed as a wonderful event for Philadelphia and one that helps secure its place in the spectrum of world-class cities. I know I speak for thousands of Wawa associates when I say that this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we are grateful and honored to have played a small part.
Chris Gheysens is CEO of Wawa, Pa.-based convenience-store chain Wawa Inc.
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