{"id":234814,"date":"2026-07-03T16:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/234814\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T16:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:27:07","slug":"philadelphia-city-rowing-wins-wawa-foundation-hero-award-nbc10-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/234814\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia City Rowing wins Wawa Foundation Hero Award \u2013 NBC10 Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wawa Foundation<\/a> \u2013 Wawa\u2019s nonprofit group that supports charitable giving \u2013 announced the winner of its annual Hero Award.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia City Rowing received a $50,000 grant on Thursday, July 2, 2026. The award honors a nonprofit organization in the Philadelphia area that helps others and builds stronger communities through preserving independence, protecting safety and mentoring and inspiring the youth.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia City Rowing\u00a0provides 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

The winner was chosen by public vote on the Wawa Foundation website that took place between June 12 to June 26. The organization with the most votes was then presented to the Wawa Foundation Hero Award Panel for final approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are incredibly excited to grant our winner, Philadelphia City Rowing, with $50,000 to further their mission in Greater Philadelphia,\u201d Wawa Foundatoin President Liz Simeone said. \u201cThe Wawa Foundation is proud to support organizations that build stronger communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three runners-up in this year\u2019s contest — Inspiring Minds Philadelphia<\/a>, Safe-Hub Philadelphia<\/a>, and Urban Youth Racing School<\/a> \u2013 will each receive $10,000 in grants from the Wawa Foundation. Over the past 11 years, the Wawa Foundation has given a total of nearly $900,000 in funding to 44 nonprofits.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInspiring Minds of Greater Philadelphia, one of four finalist for the Wawa Foundation Hero Award,\u00a0helps 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.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWawa Hero Awards recognize local nonprofits and volunteers making a difference across the Philadelphia region. The awards celebrate organizations that strengthen communities through public safety, youth mentorship, and services that help people live more independently.\u00a0Philly Live introduces to to one of this year\u2019s finalists, Safe Hub.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWawa Hero Awards recognize local nonprofits and volunteers making a difference across the Philadelphia region. The awards celebrate organizations that strengthen communities through public safety, youth mentorship, and services that help people live more independently. Philly Live introduces to to one of this year’s finalists, the Urban Youth Racing School.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wawa Foundation \u2013 Wawa\u2019s nonprofit group that supports charitable giving \u2013 announced the winner of its annual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,51239],"class_list":["post-234814","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\/234814","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=234814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}