BOSTON – Last week, the non-profit health advocacy organization Health Care For All (HCFA) honored Cumberland Farms CEO Ari Haseotes with a leadership award, at the group’s 30th anniversary celebration. This marks the first time that the organization has recognized a business leader with this honor.

“It’s a pleasure to be able to highlight an employer that’s been so thoughtful in Massachusetts,” said HCFA Executive Director Amy Whitcomb Slemmer, at the event. She first learned about Cumberland Farms’ healthcare efforts through a conversation with employees at her local store, who told her about the company’s policy reducing the weekly hours required to be a full-time employee from 40 to 30, which has allowed an additional 1,500 employees across the company to be eligible for health insurance.

The change, which was made in October 2013, made 60 %of the organization’s 7,400 employees – up from 40% – eligible to have health insurance, affecting all 600 Cumberland Farms stores in eight states and Gulf Oil corporations – which is owned by Cumberland – in 30 states, though most of the now-eligible employees work for Cumberland, according to a report in the Boston Business Journal.

Haseotes, a member of the NACS Board of Directors, emphasized that the change reflects the family-owned company’s mission to build its businesses by first creating a great place to work, and was not related to federal health care reform.

“Hopefully this is a spark that will lead to a significant broader social impact,” Haseotes said, in accepting the award last week. “Businesses are in a unique position because they have such tremendous resources to provide greater access to healthcare.”