{"id":4310,"date":"2015-04-16T05:28:57","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T09:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=4310"},"modified":"2015-04-16T01:12:54","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T05:12:54","slug":"wawa-stores-to-give-away-free-cups-of-coffee-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2015\/04\/wawa-stores-to-give-away-free-cups-of-coffee-thursday\/","title":{"rendered":"Wawa Stores to Give Away Free Cups of Coffee Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Wawa,<\/a>

Wawa, Brick, N.J. (Credit: Google Maps)<\/p><\/div>\n

Wawa stores will give away free cups of coffee to customers Thursday, part of the first ever Wawa Day celebration the company is organizing.<\/p>\n

The retail convenience chain will celebrate Wawa Day every year on April 16 from now on, the company said in a statement this week. On April 16, 1964, Wawa entered the retail business, and last year, on April 16, 2014, Wawa celebrated its 50th anniversary. During \u201cWawa Day,\u201d Wawa stores will give away more than 1.5 million free cups of any size coffee for all customers chain-wide.<\/p>\n

The day also marks one year since the company created the Wawa Foundation, its charitable arm. Along with the free cups of coffee, the chain will also announce more than $1 million in funding from the Wawa Foundation\u2019s grant distribution from the first quarter of 2015, the company said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re giving away 1.5 million cups of coffee and $1 million in Wawa Foundation grants, but the numbers we are most proud of are the numbers of lives we have impacted and communities we have helped,\u201d said Chris Gheysens, Wawa\u2019s President and CEO.<\/p>\n

Wawa began in 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Toward the end of the 19th Century, owner George Wood took an interest in dairy farming and the family began a small processing plant in Wawa, Pa. in 1902. In 1964, Grahame Wood, George\u2019s grandson, opened the first Wawa Food Market in 1964 as an outlet for dairy products in response to fewer people having milk delivered to their homes as opposed to buying it.<\/p>\n

There are five Wawa stores in the immediate Brick vicinity. They are located at:<\/p>\n