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Starbucks invests $300,000 to help COVID-19 vaccines reach underserved communitiesStarbucks invests $300,000 to help COVID-19 vaccines reach underserved communities

An additional $150,000 from The Starbucks Foundation goes to helping close vaccine disparities across Washington state

Holly Petre, Assistant Digital Editor

April 23, 2021

2 Min Read
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Starbucks invested $300,000 this week to help increase equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and help underserved communities become vaccinated.

Of that money, $250,000 went to Team Rubicon – a non-profit that mobilizes veterans and their skills to help people recover from humanitarian disasters – which is currently working to deliver vaccines to rural and tribal communities with limited healthcare resources through mobile and fixed vaccination sites.

Team Rubicon has, to date, delivered almost 1 million vaccines, according to Starbucks.

The other $50,000 went to two local Seattle-area hospitals – Swedish and UW Medicine – to help support mobile clinics that are delivering vaccines to vulnerable and underserved communities in the city.

The Seattle-based quick-service coffee chain is also working with Team Rubicon to develop a “playbook” based on the organization’s test of its mobile vaccination units. The playbook will be “an open-source resource for agencies and organizations across the country,” according to a statement from Starbucks.

An additional $150,000 from The Starbucks Foundation went to the Vaccine Equity Initiative in partnership with All in WA and The Seattle Foundation to help close the disparities in vaccine access across Washington state using community-based organizations.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced the country is expected to hit the goal of 200 million vaccinations within his first 100 days in office. To reach that goal, he said, employers and companies must offer paid time off to employees for vaccines and/or sick time as a result of side effects.

“No working person in this country should lose a single dollar from their paycheck to take time to get the shot or recover from it,” the White House said in a statement. 

Starbucks currently offers two hours of PTO per shot (up to two times) and four hours of PTO for side effects (up to two times).

In January, Starbucks joined Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Challenge Seattle in a public-private partnership to help optimize accelerated, safe and equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccines across Washington State.

Contact Holly at [email protected]

Find her on Twitter: @hollypetre

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About the Author

Holly Petre

Assistant Digital Editor

Holly Petre is a digital editor for Nation’s Restaurant News as well as the host of NRN’s podcast, Extra Serving, and producer for Informa Restaurant and Food Group’s other three podcasts, One On One by Food Management, Off the Shelf with SN and In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn. Holly holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Sculpture, fibers and Material Studies and Ceramics from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A native New Yorker, Holly enjoys her place on staff as the resident pop-culture expert and millennial with a sassy attitude and great sense of style.

Holly Petre’s work on Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality often covers marketing and trends, either aimed-at or examined-through the millennial mindset. Holly is responsible for introducing TikTok and Twitch to NRN and RH readers as well as explaining terms like “Karen” to staff and readers alike. She also spends her time on staff trying not to make every headline a pun.

Holly Petre hasn’t spoken at any events or on panels, but she is readily available with a killer shoe wardrobe and several witty quips.

 

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