Starbucks To Provide Free Coffee To COVID-19 First Responders This Holiday Season

Starbucks Corporation SBUX is offering free coffee to front-line responders and healthcare workers at participating stores in the United States through December as a part of showing its appreciation.

What Happened: The free coffee would be available beginning Dec. 1 through Dec. 31 to any customer who identifies as a front-line responder to the COVID-19 outbreak, Starbucks said in a statement.

The coffee chain will provide a tall brewed hot or iced coffee to first responders such as doctors, nurses, firefighters, dispatchers, and contact tracers among others.

Starbucks also announced a donation of $100,000 to the National Alliance on Mental Illness to support virtual mental health resources for front-line responders.

The Seattle-based company said it would surprise 50,000 front-line responders with care packages and Starbucks gift cards this holiday season.

Why It Matters: There is no limit on the offer, and qualifying workers can use the deal as many times as they wish through the end of the year, CBS News reported.

Starbucks said they have given away more than two million free cups of coffee to first-line responders since the beginning of the pandemic.

In April, the Starbucks foundation said it would contribute $1 million to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund in support of the World Health Organization.

Price Action: Starbucks shares closed mostly unchanged at $98.91 on Wednesday.