Starbucks and AOL's Patch.com Urge Nation to "Come Together" to Fix the Debt

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the nation nears the looming fiscal cliff deadline, Starbucks and Patch, AOL's network of hyper-local websites, have launched an innovative initiative to draw awareness to, and encourage action on, the ever-pressing issue in local communities. On Wednesday, the companies launched the "Come Together" initiative, which encourages Starbucks baristas to write "Come Together," as lawmakers need to do, on all beverages at approximately 120 Washington, D.C.-area stores on Thursday, December 27 and Friday, December 28.

Starbucks chairman, president, and CEO Howard Schultz said in a letter to partners (employees), "Rather than be bystanders, you and your customers have an opportunity - and I believe we all have a responsibility - to send our elected officials a respectful but potent message, urging them to come together to find common ground."

Starbucks and Patch will amplify their "Come Together" message in full-page advertisements in the Washington Post on Thursday and Friday and the New York Times on Friday, through coverage on Patch, and on social media platforms. Both Starbucks and Patch are fixtures in many communities across the country. Both organizations' CEOs hope to use their extensive local presence to encourage their employees, customers and communities to learn more about the issue, and sign the Citizen's Petition on Fix the Debt's website (www.fixthedebt.org). 

"As an organization, Patch is built on the idea of strengthening local communities and bringing democracy to life. With difficult choices facing our elected officials in the coming days and weeks, the need for citizens to speak up and be heard has never been greater," Patch CEO and co-founder Jon Brod wrote in his Huffington Post blog this morning. "Our goal is to bring the message of collaboration from local communities to Washington and onto the national stage."

The Starbucks and Patch CEOs both recognize a meaningful debt deal can only be reached through bipartisan cooperation. The Campaign to Fix the Debt, which includes the support of more than 320,000 concerned citizens and over 150 business leaders, is committed to mobilizing local, state and national support to persuade Congress to enact, and the President to sign, a comprehensive debt deal large enough to stabilize and reduce the federal debt as a share of the economy.

"The Campaign to Fix the Debt applauds Starbucks and Patch for taking proactive, bipartisan strides to draw attention to this critical issue," said Maya MacGuineas, President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and head of the Campaign to Fix the Debt. "As the clock ticks, I am hopeful the 'Come Together' campaign will spur our nation's lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to come together and begin a serious dialogue focused on a meaningful solution."

For more information on the Campaign to Fix the Debt please visit www.fixthedebt.org

SOURCE The Campaign to Fix the Debt