Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Starbucks is stepping up to once again offer free coffee to front-line workers amid the ongoing pandemic.
The coffee giant announced on Tuesday that it would be extending a new offer for the nation’s first responders and health care workers, granting them a free tall brewed coffee (hot or iced) at participating locations throughout the month of December.
“It has been an extraordinarily difficult year, especially for the front-line responders who are serving our communities,” said Virginia Tenpenny, the vice president of Starbucks’ Global Social Impact initiative. “We want to show our deep gratitude for those who support and protect us every day with a small gesture of kindness and a warm cup of coffee.”
In order to redeem their cups, frontline workers merely need to show up and identify themselves as such (no ID required). Per Starbucks, those eligible for the promotion include doctors, nurses, public health workers, pharmacists, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, police officers, dentists, dental hygienists, mental health workers, social workers, hospital staffers (janitors/housekeeping/security, etc.) and active-duty military members.
In addition to its offer of free coffee, Starbucks is also preparing 50,000 care packages and gift cards to be distributed to frontline workers via Operation Gratitude. The company also made a donation of $100,000 to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to help provide remote mental health resources for essential workers who require them.
Starbucks had previously extended a similar offer of free coffee to frontline workers closer to the beginning of the pandemic, between March 25 through May 31. So far in 2020, the chain has given away more than 2 million cups of coffee and 300,000 care packages (coffee beans included) to essential workers.