Posted on 03/22/2014 5:00:14 PM PDT by jazusamo
Here’s something that will definitely make that $5 cup of coffee go down a little smoother: Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced Wednesday that he will be donating $30 million to help our war veterans.
The donation will mostly go toward traumatic brain injury and PTSD research, he told CBS News.
"[D]epending on who you’re talking to, 20, 30, 40 percent of the two million people who have served are coming back with some kind of brain trauma or [PTSD]. So we’re going to fund the opportunity for significant research and for medical practitioners and science to understand the disease and, ultimately, hopefully, come up with some — a level of remedy.”
He continued:
"The truth of the matter is, and I say this with respect, more often than not, the government does a very -- a much better job of sending people to war than they do bringing them home. These young men and women who are coming home from multiple deployments are not coming home to a parade. They're not coming home to a celebration. They're coming home to an American public that really doesn't understand, and never embraced, what these people have done."
Our veterans are learning important skills from their military experiences that not even the best business schools in the nation could teach. Schultz said these skills are incredibly valuable to any American business, institution, or enterprise. And he’s turning his words into action. Not only did he commit to the generous research donation, he also told CBS that Starbucks will hire 10,000 veterans or their spouses over the next five years.
“I think my responsibility now is I have seen things, and I've heard things and I've met these people and their families, and you just can't be a bystander,” he told CBS, recalling a recent visit to Walter Reed. “You have to do everything you can to tell their story and help them.”
Let us hope that other business leaders and companies follow suit.
I would guess many vets are conservative and realize StarBux isn’t too keen of our armed forces, thus, knowing it may get him more business, such a donation was more political and financial based than from the heart.
They shipped conexs full of Starbucks coffee to Iraq. We kept some boxes in the building I worked in the supply room. Besides the silver bulk espresso roast bags they’d send the seasonals during the holidays in 1 lb. bags.
For two years I made my auto-drip coffee with Starbucks espresso roast. No one else would drink it. They’d call it jet, fuel, etc.
It was greatly appreciated by the troops so give them credit.
Yo Bro, I’m not whining, but I still have PTSD or just bad dreams from a helicopter crash in Nam 44 years ago, the guy did a good thing, just saying...
Has Starbucks become too political?
Bravo!
Has Starbucks become too political? —your question
my answer -— probably yes indeed, but one thing I do know for SURE is that Star*ucks has become (always was, so far as I know) far, far, far too diluted!
This does not sit well with me at all. I know there are many people that do feel this way, but there are many more that do understand, and embrace what they have done. Anyone that does not have a child like view liberals have understands that our military is the only reason the rest of us are free to sit down and have a cup of coffee.
It is not Starbucks that preserves our freedom. Just sounded snide from this guy, as if he didn't "understand and embrace" what they did.
Glad he donated the money but still think he is a jerk.
Saw this crap attitude after Vietnam, and it was wrong then and still wrong now.
I agree, he’s painting with a very broad brush because there are many that totally understand and it shows his liberal mindset.
God Bless him despite his politics!
***
Agreed. And I will still boycott them.
Thank you for your service, sir.
I don’t care why he did it or what he said about it. If it’s going to help veterans, then that is a very good thing.
Regardless of his motivation, this is a worthy cause. Good for him.
At my last job, we set up a tip jar. When a developer would come in saying they needed some migrations done, we'd point to the jar. It was a joke, but we ended up with quite a bit of small change in there over the years.
For two years I made my auto-drip coffee with Starbucks espresso roast. No one else would drink it. They’d call it jet, fuel, etc.
It was greatly appreciated by the troops so give them credit.
They ship a lot of coffee to the troops. My wife worked at SB a few years ago, and was their primary charity and community person. We took hundreds of pounds to the troops passing through DFW on leave on several occasions. I give SB credit where it is due on that.
OK....to whom is this 30 mil going too?
Never trust a Leftist, even when they are saving your hide. Don’t buy the propaganda, even though the gesture appears magnanimous. Starbucks CEO is still the exact same rabid social Leftist that he has always been. This is the “softening” technique that leftists often use on unsuspecting conservatives. There is a hook in this “bait” somewhere. Do not be so naive!
If DADT had never been repealed, and the military were not now in the clutches of vengeful, rabid homosexual Gestapo, don’t think for one minute that he’d be donating to these exact same veterans. He’d be working overtime against them.
Politics or no, blessings on him for his gift to veterans. Whatever his motivations, I’ll judge the action itself.
No problem man. Excuse my hatred for lib phonies...
It is always better to praise our adversaries when they do something right, as is the case here, then bash them for their politics or accusing them of an ulterior motive.
No better way to get them to question themselves as to why we're praising them in the first place. That should encourage them to work on our side more.
If only more people like him were moved to take action as he was. I say God Bless him for allowing himself to be moved to action. This is a wonderful thing he's doing.
I have a Starbucks in the building I work and occasionally stop down there in the afternoon for a tea. When I get back to work this week I'm going to be sure to let the folks who work there know that they have a heck of a CEO and tell them about this story.
I personally would be extremely proud of my CEO for doing something like this. It lets you as an employee know that you're also working and contributing to something much larger than a cup of coffee.
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