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Wawa Celebrates 4th Of July Holiday In Big Way -- A Hoagie Weighing 6 Tons

By Tim Jimenez

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Welcome America festivities continue today and big part of that - weighing in at six tons - is centered around a sandwich.

Nine-hundred plus pounds each of ham and salami, 16 hundred pounds of provolone, 23 hundred pounds of tomatoes.

A Philly food field of dreams, you build a six ton hoagie, they will come.

A few hundred Wawa employees built the massive hoagie, which actually consists of 23,000 Italian shorties.

Most served to the public for free at the Independence Visitor Center lawn as part of an annual tradition.

But the first 5,000 went to Philabundance says spokeswoman Stefanie Arck Baynes -- most for the kids.

"300,000 children in our area who lose their school meals. So to get a donation like this at this time of year is really helpful."

Also, 1,000 extra sandwiches were delivered to local veteran centers. Leading the charge, Food Network Chef Robert Irvine.

"A lot of our veterans didn't get taken care of when they came home for whatever reason. They're still having a hard time and it's our job to make sure we can give them a slice of comfort."

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