For the Shortis

Five West Chester women go Wawa-hopping in the name of charity.

by Aly Semigran

Mark Stehle SIZZLIERS: (L-R) Jill Fitzpatrick, Emily Koch, Ann Wuetig and Mary Speer plan on visiting all 578 Wawas by 2010 to raise money for a melanoma charity. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Not all charity fundraisers call for black ties and fancy hors d'oeuvres. Sometimes the situation demands a hoagie and some Wawa iced tea.

At least, according to five women from West Chester.

For more than a year now Emily Koch, Mary Speer, Andrea Sasin, Ann Wuetig and Jill Fitzpatrick have been on the move to reach every single Wawa — stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia — before the year 2010 to raise money for the Melanoma International Foundation (MIF). They use Google Maps and a spreadsheet to keep track of their journeys and document their mission at wawa2010.blogspot.com.

"The idea to do this started innocently enough as a joke to go to every Wawa," says Wuetig, "but as time went on we incorporated the charity."

All five women, who had attended middle and high school together, were affected by the death from melanoma of Maria Whitehead, a classmate and the assistant field hockey coach at Duke University. As per a verbal agreement made after the start of the trip on Jan. 17, 2007, Wawa will match what the five women spend (excluding gas, found only at those elusive "Super Wawas") with a donation to the MIF.

That organization has set up an account on their site, melanomaintl.org, where people can donate in the name of Wawa2010. With 420 of 578 of the stores visited, the five are way ahead of the scheduled end date, and have raised $1,400 thus far.

No, the five can't always go to the stores together — they've all got jobs and busy schedules. Yes, something must be purchased at every Wawa visited. "It definitely takes the cashiers aback when we ask for a receipt for a Peppermint Pattie. We've gotten many a strange look," says Speer.

During the first week of January, Wuetig went on a marathon trek: 36 Wawas in 24 hours.

"My credit card company called thinking there was fraudulent behavior on my account," says Wuetig.

The five are relentless. "Jill and I went to a Wawa in New Jersey and they had closed it for the night because they didn't have enough employees for that shift. We just stood there until they finally let us in," says Wuetig.

"We grew up with Wawa. It was tough when some of us went to Western Pennsylvania for college. It was like, 'Sheetz? Ugh!'" says Koch, of the convenience store chain that dominates that part of the state. They plan to congratulate one another at the end of their goal with gift certificates for even more stops. "What can I say?" Koch asks with a laugh. "We'll never get sick of Wawa."

(a_semigran@citypaper.net)