{"id":217826,"date":"2026-06-12T22:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/217826\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T22:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:17:08","slug":"vote-now-4-finalists-announced-for-wawa-foundation-hero-award-nbc10-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/217826\/","title":{"rendered":"Vote now! 4 finalists announced for Wawa Foundation Hero Award \u2013 NBC10 Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

After receiving a record-breaking 500 submissions, the Wawa Foundation Inc.<\/a> announced the four finalists for the 2026 Wawa Foundation Hero Award.<\/a><\/p>\n

The annual award honors a nonprofit organization in the Philadelphia area that helps others and builds stronger communities through preserving independence, protecting our safety and mentoring and inspiring the youth.<\/p>\n

The winning organization will receive a $50,000 grant while the three runners up will each receive $10,000 grants. Voting takes place on the Wawa Foundation\u2019s website between June 12 and June 26.<\/a> The organization that receives the most votes will be presented to the Wawa Foundation Hero Award Panel for final approval.<\/p>\n

The winner will be announced at the Salute to Service Ceremony on Thursday, July 2, 2026, at Independence Mall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are thrilled with the four finalists for The Wawa Foundation Hero Award and delighted to shine a light on the important work they\u2019re doing in the community,\u201d Wawa Foundation President Liz Simeone said. \u201cWe look forward to celebrating their stories at the Salute to Service ceremony on July 2nd when we reveal the winner with a $50,000 grant to help these organizations continue helping others in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four finalists are the following:<\/p>\n

Inspiring Minds of Greater Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Inspiring Minds Philadelphia<\/a> helps guide students from middle school through college and beyond. It was founded in 2018 by former WNBA player Andrea Garner and addresses issues such as violence, limited opportunities and a lack of mentorship. The group offers continued support including mentorship, workforce development, college and career readiness, social-emotional health and financial literacy.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia City Rowing<\/p>\n

Philadelphia City Rowing<\/a> provides over 400 Philadelphia public school students each year with free after-school programing that combines competitive rowing, academic support, mentorship and wellness education. The organization also creates a safe and supportive space for students to build confidence, community and a vision for their future. According to the organization, 100% of the students they mentored graduated and they have strong rates of college or career placement.<\/p>\n

Safe-Hub Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Safe-Hub Philadelphia<\/a> is an organization that offers young people in the city\u2019s Kensington neighborhood safety, belonging and opportunities through a soccer-based program that integrates social-emotional learning and serves more than 300 youth each week. Safe-Hub also connects over 3,000 community members each year to critical resources, such as food access and heath services through soccer practice.<\/p>\n

Urban Youth Racing School<\/p>\n

Urban Youth Racing School<\/a> is a Philly-based organization that connects underserved youth to opportunities through motorsports, STEM education, mentorship and workforce training. The school\u2019s programs, including Build A Dream and CNC 101, teach students discipline, teamwork and real-world technical skills that lead to careers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After receiving a record-breaking 500 submissions, the Wawa Foundation Inc. announced the four finalists for the 2026 Wawa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,51239],"class_list":["post-217826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-wawa-welcome-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}