Support Starbucks-Red Cross-Fed Ex

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON,– The coffee giant Starbucks and
the American Red
Cross are teaming up to deliver hot java to U.S.
servicemembers serving
overseas in the war against global terrorism.

Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Jim Donald said during a
Capitol Hill press
conference today in the office of U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks that
his company would
provide 50,000 pounds of free, whole-bean coffee that will
be brewed and
distributed by Red Cross workers to troops serving in
Kuwait, Afghanistan and
Iraq.

"It's important that we show the support – and we have
shown support -- for our
troops overseas," Donald explained. In fact, he said,
Starbucks, headquartered
in Seattle, has 80 employees in the military now deployed
in Iraq and
Afghanistan.

And many of Starbuck's 85,000 employees, Donald pointed
out, have friends and
family members serving overseas in the military. Starbuck's
partnership with
the Red Cross, he noted, "is just a way of reaching into
the community and
supporting troops from all over the U.S."

Starbucks will ship the coffee to overseas locations as
directed by the Red
Cross, noted Alan McCurry, chief operating officer for the
American Red Cross.

"We will make coffee and distribute it," McCurry explained,
noting that the Red
Cross will also ensure that forward-deployed ground troops
will get their
share.

The Starbucks-Red Cross coffee distribution partnership
will boost military
morale, McCurry predicted, while bringing "a little bit of
home to the troops."

McCurry estimated that coffee shipment to overseas troops
should begin in about
three or four weeks, in time for the holiday season.

Dicks, who represents the district that includes Seattle,
said many employees
at Starbucks stores across the country had already been
sending "care packages"
of free coffee to U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and
Kuwait.

According to Starbucks officials, local company
representatives recently
donated 10 thousand gallons of freshly brewed coffee and pastries to
support a family
support group event held at Fort Sheridan, Ill., near
Chicago.

Other Starbucks employees from 90 stores in the
northeastern United States,
including New Jersey and Philadelphia, donated their free
weekly coffee
allotment – totaling 2,000 pounds – to U.S. servicemembers
serving overseas.
Federal Express shipped the coffee for free to Ramstein Air
Base, Germany,
where it was then distributed to troops in the Balkans and
the Middle East.

And the daughter of a Starbuck's store manager in Newark,
N.J., who was
corresponding with reservists from Morristown serving in
Iraq, played a role in
ensuring they received free Starbucks coffee. The soldiers
forwarded a letter
of thanks, noting the coffee reminded them of home.

At a recent meeting featuring representatives from about
100 Starbucks stores
in northern Ohio and Michigan, store managers and partners
collected more than
500 pounds of coffee that was then shipped to American
soldiers in Iraq.

In Texas, the Rangers baseball team and north Texas
Starbucks stores recently
teamed up to send coffee and Rangers' teddy bears to troops
serving in Iraq.

A Starbucks customer with a son serving with a Maryland
National Guard unit in
Iraq complimented Starbucks stores in Arlington, Va., for
donating free coffee
to troops serving in Iraq, noting the company "is doing a
great job supporting
our (military) men and women."

Now Starbucks' corporate headquarters in Seattle wants to
"do something of
significance" to support the troops, Dicks noted.

Washington State, Dicks pointed out, is home to several
military facilities,
including Fort Lewis, where U.S. Army soldiers train with
the transformational
Stryker vehicle.

The congressman said he appreciates the difficult work
performed by U.S.
servicemembers deployed overseas in the war against global
terrorism, noting
they "are doing a great job for our country."

"We hope that having these 50,000 pounds of coffee will
make life a little
better" for deployed servicemembers, the congressman
remarked, noting that he
wishes them success in their missions and that they safely
return home to their
families.