This is a story about a supermarket chain.
- One of the largest employers in the U.S. (~193,000 employees)
- ~$38 B in revenue
- 1200+ locations in 7 states
- Employee owned with majority shares still owned by the Jenkins family members
It’s called PUBLIX
THREAD
1/

I deleted an earlier tweet because I started to quickly. Forgive me for jumping the gun.
It was about a story that came out today in the WSJ about a big Trump Donor helping fund the #EllipseRally in D.C.
Great reporting by @rebeccaballhaus @shalini @AlexandraBerzon
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/jan-6-rally-funded-by-top-trump-donor-helped-by-alex-jones-organizers-say-11612012063
Here’s that story
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The donor who gave the money to help fund the #EllipseRally in DC that led to domestic terrorists storming the capital was Julie Ansley Jenkins Fancelli.
Julie gave $300,000 to help fund that rally.
But this THREAD is also about PUBLIX.
4/

Julie is the daughter of George Jenkins, the original founder of PUBLIX. It began as one store in 1930 and grew to what it is today, despite the Great Depression and World Wars.
But that’s another story.
5/

In 1972, Julie, as a student from the University of Florida, went to Florence Italy. There she met future husband, Mauro Adolfo Dino Fancelli. Dad was still the Chairman of PUBLIX and interestingly, Mauro Fancelli ran a similar business (wholesale) in Florence.

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The couple split their time between Italy and Florida and created many businesses. One of them was Alma Food Imports, Inc.
Again, it’s pretty interesting to ME that she found a kindred spirit who is also in the same industry as her dad
(Cough)
7/

Julie and children/family helped grow the family business. Carol Jenkins Barnett left the business recently due to an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. She and another family member, Howard, are considered the wealthiest in FL and in a Billionaires category.
8/

There is little that you can find about Julie herself. She and her husband, outside of FL, seem to keep a low profile.
The entire Jenkins family is about conservative values. Giving back and supporting Republicans.
As the story tells us
9/

Carol Barnett gave $110,000 to Perdue and the PAC that helped run $50Million in advertising for Loeffler as well.
She supported an effort, giving $800K to a conservative group fighting making marijuana from becoming legal.
PUBLIX pharmacy is huge
10/

And Julie, seems to have had a great business importing products from her husbands business in Italy to PUBLIX.
Getting caught by the SEC after several decades, finally gave Julie the opportunity to step away from the company in 2018.
11/

The image of this company has been created very carefully. I’m sure people like working there. But..
- PUBLIX doesn’t support a raise in the minimum wage
- They don’t seem to have a good tract record with LGBTQ community
12/

- Donations to far right conservatives (not a crime)
- Fighting legal marijuana (they have a large opiate business)
- Refusing to sign labor-protections for farm workers
- Top employees donated to a NRA gun advocate Adam Putnam
- Parkland students staged die-ins at PUBLIX
13

- Don’t support providing HIV drugs to needed patients.

Julie can provide monies to who she chooses, however, maybe it’s time to give PUBLIX and all their businesses another deeper look.

My guess? No one will do it.
Support PUBLIX? Might be your only store to go to
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But if we looked hard enough in the corners, I think we’d have a huge eye opener about who these folks really are.
END