As Texas struggles during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, individuals and businesses are working together to help provide relief. Among these are some big names in the c-store industry.
7-Eleven, whose home-base is in Irving, Texas, matched Red Cross donations for 24 hours on August 27th to raise funds to help those in need.
Buc-ee’s, another Texas based c-store chain, hosted a First Responders Day on August 25th, giving free food and drinks to Houston-area police officers, firefighters, paramedics and EMS workers.
Wawa, and the Wawa Foundation, is working with the American Red Cross to raise funds for disaster-relief efforts in more than 760 stores across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida. The campaign to raise funds will continue through September 8th, matching customer donations up to $50,000.
Atlas Oil, based in Taylor, Michigan has deployed over a dozen fuel trucks in its Emergency Fueling Response Team to help recovery efforts in Texas, making sure that first responders have access to fuel. In light of fuel shortages and local fuel prices reported as high as $10 a gallon, this will undoubtedly be a huge boon to those first responders.
California-based Chevron is making a $1 million contribution to the American Red Cross. Further, Chevron is matching its employee and retiree donations to relief efforts.
Exxon Mobil, based in Irving, Texas contributed half a million dollars to both the United Way of Greater Houston and to Red Cross regional organizations. Additionally, this company is giving priority to first responders requesting fuel.
Phillips-66, another Texas company, based in Houston, has donated $1 million to the American Red Cross. Like Chevron, Phillips-66 is also matching employee donations and a grant program to provide financial donations to volunteers.
$1 million is also being donated by Shell – another Houston based company. Bruce Culpepper, president of Shell US, said “Shell employs nearly 20,000 people in the U.S. and nearly half of them are being directly impacted by Harvey. Despite the hardships associated with this event, countless employees have reached out to understand how they can contribute to the relief effort. Ours is a resilient family, and I'm proud of the effort employees are making to look after their neighbors and fellow citizens.”
Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by Hurricane Harvey. We will continue to offer support to our customers through these trying times and are doing all we can to be as responsive as possible.
If you’re interested in donating to the American Red Cross : https://www.redcross.org/donate/hurricane-harvey
To donate funds to the United Way of Greater Houston : https://www.unitedwayhouston.org/flood