Dearest brother-in-law, THIS IS A TOTAL LIE. Not only is it malicious, but it couldn’t be further from the truth, and what I hate about the internet!!! This same email has been circulating since 2004, and it is a pack of lies!!! Here is the truth: Even prior to 9/11, we, Starbucks 'partners' (employees) were gathering our own mark-outs of coffee together and sending to troops in the Gulf War, and then in Afganistan. In the aftermath of 9/11, all of our stores in the area stayed open as long as they were allowed by police, and then re-opened when they were allowed, and handed out water, made coffee, and handed it all out to any relief workers in the area for free until they ran out. Then we transferred in more coffee and continued. Starbucks did not charge for anything for days in those stores affected. And while we grieved for fellow employees who we lost in the Twin Towers stores, employees from other stores in the surrounding areas pitched in did the same, transporting coffee and water to the Ground Zero sites for days - even in their spare time. Employees from all over the country, including at corporate, started grass roots donations and collected money, coffee, water, and other supplies and shipped them to the emergency workers and then to Iraq and Afganistan when the war started. Some of my friends in IT at Starbucks in the National Guard were shipped to Iraq as well, and we sent tens of thousands of pounds of coffee on special transports to the bases where we had contacts. Over the years, larger corporate donations of money, coffee, and water were organized and also sent. Store-level, district, regional, and corporate donation campaigns continue and partners continue to donate their mark-outs each week, and will do so until all of our troops are home. We send care packages from the collections on a regular basis, to troops all over Iraq and Afganistan. David, you can attest to this, because where I used to send you and my sister coffee on a regular basis, you rarely get any now. That’s because all of my free coffee or 'mark-outs' each week goes into the troop donations and has for the last few years. The same with hundreds and hundreds of other partners. (The coffee I occasionally still send to you, I pay for like everyone else.) And in case anyone you forward this note to doesn't want to take a Starbucks employee's word for it, why don't you take this Sgt Howard C. Wright's word for it, since he has retracted this false statement over 4 years ago! Here is the article, from a web site called Boycott WATCH. Also, since each year of my past 10 years at Starbucks, I have donated hundreds of hours each year of my time - mostly through Starbucks-sponsored charitable events like local soup kitchens for the homeless, Habitat for Humanity, Clean Earth campaigns, local underprivileged children organizations, United Way, my church, etc., along with THOUSANDS of Starbucks partners across the world each year; and since in addition I donate thousands of dollars each year to these charities; and since Starbucks Corporate MATCHES every dollar and every hour with an equal dollar or hourly salary donation to each charity with a 'corporate matching contribution',,,, ... I believe I'm justified in suggesting that perhaps if more people and more companies did the same, this world might be a little bit better place, with less war, less poverty, less violence, less homelessness, less hate. Think of the good you can do in your own community, if you spend even just 2 hours a week donating your time at a local charity instead. And to those people that would rather sit at their computer mindlessly surfing the net and proliferating hate and disdain around the country, I feel sorry for you. http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/starbucks2.htm http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/starbucks4.htm http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=24883