Santa Cruz Starbucks Stores Give Front-Line Workers Free Coffee

SANTA CRUZ, CA — Front-line workers can get free coffee throughout December from Starbucks locations throughout the United States, including the four in Santa Cruz.

Starbucks has locations in Santa Cruz at: 745 Ocean St.; 1901 Mission St.; 2203 Mission St.; and 21620 E. Cliff Drive.

In a statement, Starbucks said it will offer front-line workers a free tall brewed coffee, hot or iced, throughout the month as a way “to recognize the significant efforts of the front-line responder and health care community” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It has been an extraordinarily difficult year, especially for the front-line responders who are serving our communities,” Starbucks Vice President Virginia Tenpenny said in a news release. “We want to show our deep gratitude for those who support and protect us every day with a small gesture of kindness and a cup of coffee.”

Those eligible for the offer include doctors, nurses, public health workers, pharmacists, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, police officers, dentists and dental hygienists, mental health workers (therapists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, etc.), hospital staff such as janitors, housekeeping/security and active-duty military, according to Starbucks.

Customers will need to identify themselves as one of those workers in order to receive the free coffee.