
Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker (D) announced Wednesday that he would be handing out hundreds of coupons for free Hot Pockets to residents of his damaged town thanks to an apparent act of corporate generosity enabled by social media.
“@CoryBooker a my nigga i m running out of hotpockets to put in the oven,” Newark resident Tyree Humes tweeted at Booker on November 1.
“I believe in you,” the mayor replied. “I know this is a problem you can handle.”
For a mayor like Booker, who’s constantly engaged with citizens via social media – particularly during Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath — that normally would have been the end of it. But it wasn’t. Booker posted a follow-up on Wednesday featuring a photo of himself holding a box of Hot Pockets.
“thx 2 ur tweet + @HotPockets generosity Newarkers now have plenty of hot pockets to put in the oven,” he explained. A second post included a letter from the kind people at Hot Pockets explaining that they saw the exchange and decided to take action.
“Enclosed, please find coupons for free Hot Pockets that you can give out to people who stop by your home, or anyone else you feel could use them,” the letter said. “We’re also sending some to Tyree Humes who sent you the tweet. We realize that there is much work ahead to rebuild and move on, but we wanted to make this small gesture to help.”
Despite some marginal levels of recovery after Hurricane Sandy, officials said about 390,000 households in New Jersey were still without power on Thursday, a number exasperated by a large winter storm that buried parts of the state in up to 12 inches of snow. Americans are urged to donate to the Red Cross to support relief efforts in the affected areas.
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Photo: Twitter user @CoryBooker.
(H/T: The Huffington Post)