At gas stations, convenience stores and fuel terminals throughout the Northeast, thousands of employees of Global Partners LP have been helping people get the goods, food, and fuel they need throughout the COVID-19 crisis. It is essential work that is keeping communities up and running.
Global was looking for a creative and personal way to thank these employees for their service. The answer? Creating more than 3,000 handcrafted family meals and provision boxes for its frontline employees.
Watch the video below to see how we worked with Joshua Smith, our Director of Culinary Innovations, to create and deliver more than 3,000 handcrafted family meals and provision boxes for the Global employees who are helping to keep communities up and running.
“We were thinking, ‘How is it that we can take care of all of those associates and terminal operators that have been on the frontline since the start of the whole Covid crisis?’” said Eric Slifka, Global Partners’ CEO. “It’s really about finding ways to make a difference and delivering that difference to everybody that we work with.”
For this culinary endeavor, Smith created an exquisite family-size meal of grilled chicken, Stagioni pasta and organic vegetables that employees simply heat up and serve at home. For employees who are on leave of absence or stationed in energy terminals, Smith came up with provision boxes that contain all the ingredients employees need to prepare a fresh pasta dinner.
“As soon as the world started melting down, I just wanted to figure out how I could give back,” Smith said. “How do we have a bigger impact on the bigger group, on the Global group – the team that makes everything happen?”
Global ended up delivering and shipping more than 3,000 meals and provision boxes to employees throughout its network of operations.
“The fact that our own people in our company have made these meals really goes to show that we’re all equal, we’re all on the same path, and we’re all trying to do the right thing,” said Robert Kemp, manager of Global’s Alltown convenience store in Billerica, Mass. “It really means a lot.”
The meals come in addition to a $2-per-hour raises and monthly gift cards that Global began offering to retail associates in March. Combined, all of the efforts aim to express the company’s gratitude for the employees who are helping Global help the community.
“I just want to thank everybody who comes out and goes to work every day and really delivers to the community that they’re serving,” Slifka said, “because without you, we wouldn’t be able to help those in need.”