How do you thank a hero? While big gestures often grab headlines, it’s the little things that mean a lot to first responders, medical personnel and disaster relief volunteers. That’s the idea behind the NACS Foundation’s second annual 24/7 Day—a day to spotlight our industry’s important role in supporting the communities we serve, and where convenience stores can show these frontline workers they care in small, tangible ways. On July 24, 2020, 18 retailers, with support from GSTV as the 2020 official media partner, honored these everyday heroes in a variety of ways, while also raising awareness and donations for the American Red Cross.

“In our inaugural year, we had three retail partners to help us celebrate those who give back so selflessly, 24/7, in our communities,” said Stephanie Sikorski, executive director of the NACS Foundation. “This year’s 24/7 Day had a 500% increase in participation from 2019, thus extending our industry’s thanks to hometown heroes in local neighborhoods across the entire United States.”

Retailers both large and small partnered with the NACS Foundation on 24/7 Day to give away free beverages and food and offer fuel discounts to their communities’ local heroes. The retailers also collected customer donations for the American Red Cross, as well as giving generously themselves. This year, these 18 retailers with 20 unique brands honored everyday heroes—and their own associates—at 30,000-plus store locations across the United States.

“The 24/7 Day is a signature event under the NACS Foundation’s Response Relief Program,” Sikorski said. “Convenience is about being there when we’re needed most, and that’s why we wanted to help our retailers give back to those community heroes on a special day.”

Convenience is about being there when we’re needed most, and that’s why we wanted to help our retailers give back to those community heroes on a special day.

Alongside these 24/7 Day partners, the NACS Foundation continued an ongoing social media campaign across NACS and the NACS Foundation social channels and all 24/7 Day retail partners, with assistance from the American Red Cross, GSTV and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). Ahead of July 24, the foundation’s press release about the special day appeared in 106 U.S. media outlets, including Forbes, and some global publications. “Our total combined potential audience for hearing about the good our industry does on 24/7 Day reached 57 million—that’s in addition to the thousands of people who heard about it through video ads at the pumps with GSTV,” Sikorski said.

Here are a few of their stories. For a complete list of what each partner did, visit www.conveniencecares.org/24-7-Day.

Getting the Word Out

As the first official media partner, GSTV worked with the foundation to connect its 24,000 convenience retailers with 24/7 Day. “At a high level, the objective and work of the NACS Foundation aligns with GSTV’s corporate responsibility goals,” said Dan Trotzer, executive vice president of GSTV. “We’ve worked with the Red Cross before and wanted to help bring awareness to their mission, while saying thank you to those in our communities who can’t take a break from serving.”

Specifically, GSTV ran promotional pieces at participating retailers on July 24 to inform first responders of the free offer and the public to solicit Red Cross donations. “These retailers have been tested lately, responding to operational changes because of the pandemic, as well as relying on community members to support their business,” Trotzer said. “We were able to help them get this message to customers about how they help their communities stay safe and how they give back.”

Overall, Trotzer said the event gave GSTV a focal point to work on together with its retailers. “We need to continue to get the word out to customers and communities about all the important work the convenience and fuel industry does,” he said. “You can lose sight sometimes about how important certain business channels like convenience stores are in our communities, and we want to do what we can to support that message.”

Our total combined potential audience for hearing about the good our industry does on 24/7 Day reached 57 million—that’s in addition to the thousands of people who heard about it through GSTV.

Showing Appreciation

For Rutter’s, participating in 24/7 Day was an extension of its core mission. “At Rutter’s, we’ve always believed in supporting the communities in which we operate,” said Chris Hartman, director of fuels, forecourt and advertising. “Participating in 24/7 Day was an easy decision because it fit with our company values.”

Rutter’s expanded its participation beyond a single day. During the entire month of July, the chain utilized its ongoing monthly cannister program to support the American Red Cross, which allowed customers to make in-store donations. In the week leading up to July 24, Rutter’s donated $1,000 each day to local frontline workers. On July 24, the company made a $5,000 donation to a local chapter of the American Red Cross.

“For 24/7 Day, we wanted to truly show our gratitude to our frontline workers,” Hartman said. “With the help of some outstanding vendor partners, we provided a free meal to both first responders and our store employees, for what we called, ‘Feeding the Frontline.’”

For Rutter’s, showing its appreciation to frontline workers for all they do for their communities, especially during the pandemic, resonated with both essential workers and customers alike. “We had a tremendous customer response to our Feeding the Frontline initiative,” Hartman said. “While 24/7 Day was a great opportunity to shine a light on the efforts of frontline workers, Rutter’s will continue to support our communities in multiple ways throughout 2020.”

Expanding Their Reach

Yesway viewed participating in 24/7 Day as a way to partner with other retailers and the NACS Foundation “to amplify our collective voices,” said Derek Gaskins, chief marketing officer. “Our people on the frontlines in our stores, and in society in healthcare, police, fire, first responders, etc., deserve the collective recognition. There is strength in numbers, and with the NACS Foundation, we were able to reach more people.”

On July 24, Yesway offered free dispensed beverages to first responders, police, fire, military veterans, health practitioners and American Red Cross and United Way volunteers. The chain also gave its team members working in stores a full week of free beverages “as part of the campaign to show our appreciation,” Gaskins said.

The response from the community was, in a word, “tremendous. We received solid feedback in stores and social media from customers and essential heroes,” Gaskins said. “24/7 Day gave us a great foundation to build something even stronger. We’ll incorporate this into our loyalty program, so the impact is more enduring, and will look to promote it even earlier next year to drive awareness.”

Our people on the frontlines in our stores, and in society in healthcare, police, fire, first responders, etc., deserve the collective recognition. There is strength in numbers, and with the NACS Foundation, we were able to reach more people.

Celebrating Heroes

Last year, Wawa joined Sheetz and RaceTrac in the inaugural 24/7 Day. This year, the retailer stepped up its participation with check presentations for recent grants from The Wawa Foundation to support disaster relief efforts, as well as recognition of funds raised during February to April from the chain’s in-store customer donation campaign.

In addition, the retailer gave away 15,000 free coffee and 15,000 free donut coupons to American Red Cross staff members. Wawa also revealed a rendering of an American Red Cross Bloodmobile to be funded by The Wawa Foundation and, it’s expected to be in operation next year.

“We’re honored to participate again in the second annual 24/7 Day that unites our industry to recognize everyday heroes working around the clock to help our community,” said Chris Gheysens, president and CEO of Wawa, in a press release. “We remain committed to supporting our partners as they serve our community.”

Going Forward

The 2020 NACS 24/7 Day expanded on last year’s inaugural event both in the number of retailer participants and in what those partners did. “We encouraged these retailers to share their #WeHeartHeroes stories using our official campaign hashtags: #WeHeartHeroes, #conveniencecares and #247Day,” Sikorski said. “We had a wonderful response during July with so many retailers and supporters sharing heart-warming stories across many social media channels.”

The foundation is already eyeing next year’s 24/7 Day (July 24, 2021). “We hope to expand on the ask from 2020 and can’t wait to see how many more retail partners and others who will join us in celebrating our first responders,” Sikorski said. “The NACS Foundation 24/7 Day is a way to highlight how important convenience stores are to their communities and to amplify our industry’s collective power to positively impact disaster response efforts while honoring our frontline heroes.”

To learn more/participate in next year’s 24/7 Day, contact Lindsay Buchanan at (703) 518-4222 or [email protected] or visit 247day.org.

NACS 24/7 Day Participants

This year, 18 retailers and GSTV joined together to raise awareness and donations for the urgent humanitarian needs of the American Red Cross, while spotlighting the convenience retailing industry’s important role in supporting local heroes and their communities. “When communities need essentials after natural disasters or other emergencies, convenience stores and gas stations are often among the only retailers that remain open to help both first responders, volunteers and medical personnel, as well as their neighbors. That’s why so many retailers were eager to participate in this year’s 24/7 Day,” said Stephanie Sikorski, executive director of the NACS Foundation. “We’d like to give a special thank you to Sheetz for supporting 24/7 Day as a Community Leader for the second year with a generous donation to the NACS Foundation and the American Red Cross.”

Here’s the full list of all participants in the 2020 NACS Foundation 24/7 Day: