December 2024

Help delivered where it is needed the most through the joint efforts of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service and SPAR

The Hungarian Charity Service of The Order of Malta and SPAR Hungary’s cooperation delivers aid to thousands of people in need. The retail chain supports the prominently public benefit organisation with regular aid each month throughout the year, as well as The Joy to Give! charity campaigns.

“As an important actor in the commercial sector, supporting social causes is a vital part of corporate culture for SPAR Hungary. The Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta has been our strategic partner in this for almost 30 years, with whom we can now help not only during the holidays, but in every month of the year through our own donations and with the help of our customers. In addition to this, we try to help in unexpected situations, such as this year’s floods, where we supported those involved in flood control with food donations, including the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service,” explained said Márk Maczelka, head of communications at SPAR Hungary.

“The cooperation between SPAR Hungary and the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta brings predictability and security to our charitable activities, and our decade-long cooperation provides a stable background for our projects helping people in need. The relationship is multifaceted and much more complex than simply support, as SPAR has been an active participant in our programs from the very beginning to create opportunities for less fortunate people, while also providing valuable and continuous help for the daily work of Maltese Charity Service,” said Tamás Romhányi, head of communication of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta.

As part of the strategic partnership, direct daily donations from more than 50 SPAR stores reach the organisation in the form of fruit and vegetables, bakery products, and non-perishable food donations. Last year, SPAR donated over almost half a million kilograms of food withdrawn from sale but still fit for consumption to the Charity Service, which then distributed them to those in need.

The Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and SPAR Hungary have been organising the Joy to Give! (Adni Öröm!) Christmas fundraiser campaign for 28 years. Volunteers in selected SPAR stores receive non-perishable food and sweets for children bought by customers on site. In recent years, the campaign collected an average of nearly 200 tonnes of food annually, which made it possible to distribute Christmas gifts to tens of thousands of families. For example, donation cards purchased in the SPAR online shop or in stores raised 6.3 million forints last year, while the adomanyozz.hu website received a further 5 million forints in donations, which was also used to purchase more boxes of food to distribute. The Joy to Give! school supply donation campaign which has taken place before the previous four new school years, made it possible for customers to help families in need to start school through a total donation of nearly 250,000 school supplies. In recent years, donors have also purchased donation cards worth nearly 8 million forints, an amount that was used by the NGO to distribute stationery, exercise books, and other school supplies to those in need. SPAR also supported the initiative donating an additional 4 million forints.

The 200- and 500-forint donation cards of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta are available in SPAR and INTERSPAR stores and the SPAR online shop throughout the year. The total value of cards purchased since the launch of the initiative has exceeded 70 million forints, which also went to the Charity Service’s programs that create opportunities. In addition, in each SPAR and INTERSPAR store, the company donates 1 forint from the price of every degradable carry bag to the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta. As a result, the company supported the work of the organization with a further 9.3 million forints in 2023.

The Presence (Jelenlét) programme of the charity organisation is based on permanent and intensive social work in urban slums and impoverished small towns and villages. “Give a man a fish, and he will be hungry again tomorrow; teach him to catch a fish, and he will be richer all his life,” and in this spirit, the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta launched its social enterprise called Máltai Manufaktúra, which was able to launch and enter the market with the support of SPAR Hungary. Today, these facilities not only provide customers with high-quality products, but also provide a secure livelihood for many disadvantaged families.

In Tiszabura, one of the poorest corners of the country, the Charity Service helps locals in all areas of life: it operates a school, kindergarten, social office and has started a job-creating enterprise, among others. Since 2019, they have been producing their own products, such as canvas shopping bags for SPAR’s nationwide network. In the past five years, the organisation has produced more than 362,000 bags in the Máltai Manufaktúra sewing shop, involving people in difficulty, for whom the program provides training and jobs.

As part of the cooperation, products of the Máltai Manufaktúra such as jams, syrups and pickles were available in SPAR Hungary’s stores. These products not only delivered high-quality artisanal food to customers, but also supported the employment of disadvantaged people in the workshops of the Máltai Manufaktúra in Páty and Gyulaj. The first sales started in December 2019 and the products were available in 20 stores. The sales figures of recent years reflect the success of the program; more than 30,000 products were purchased between 2019 and 2024. SPAR Hungary aims to further strengthen this type of cooperation with the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta in the future. They plan to expand the range to help these social enterprises become sustainable in the long term.

30.12.2024

This year’s Joy to Give! Christmas fundraiser supports people in need with over 223 tonnes of food donations

Member News

More than 26,000 packages will be delivered to people in need before Christmas by the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and SPAR Hungary as part of the Joy to Give! (Adni Öröm!) donation campaign. Customers of SPAR stores contributed 223 tonnes of food to the donations and by purchasing donation cards for almost 5.5 million forints, which SPAR Hungary matched with an additional 5 million forints.

The Joy to Give! campaign was organised for the 28th time this year by the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta in selected SPAR Hungary stores. The Christmas fundraising campaign kicked off on the first day of the month with the sale of the Joy to Give! donation cards, and the traditional, more interactive campaign that targets the customers of more than 150 SPAR and INTERSPAR stores took place between 12-17 December.

The motto of this year’s campaign: ‘Christmas reaches everyone this year!’ Even a single packet of pasta or a kilogram of sugar goes a long way, as many small donations will eventually become a massive act of help. I am happy to report that SPAR customers have donated 223 tons of non-perishable food this year. In addition, the Charity Service will also use the almost 5.5 million forints raised from donation cards and the additional 5 million forints that SPAR has offered to donate for more food. As a result we can contribute to a brighter Christmas for more than 26,000 people from disadvantaged backgrounds in 2024. On behalf of SPAR Hungary, we thank our customers for their donations, and the volunteers who participated in the campaign for their help,” emphasised Márk Maczelka, head of communications at SPAR Hungary.

“During the days of the ’Joy to Give!’ campaign, this year again, tens of thousands of people decided to help our fellow humans in need. We are grateful not only for the donations, but also because we had the opportunity to connect or if you like, to build a bridge, for a short while between people living in two very different worlds. We meet a lot of returning customers in our SPAR stores who help our work year after year, waiting for and looking forward to the fundraising campaign. We have known the families who require our support for a long time, but for a few years now, we have been seeing more and more familiar faces in stores among our customers who support us. We would like to thank everyone for the donations,” explained Tamás Romhányi, head of communications of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service.

“The cooperation between SPAR Hungary and its strategic partner, the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta will continue in 2025 as well: school supplies will be collected before the start of the school year, and food donations will be collected before Christmas. In addition, the company helps people in need through the organisation with food donations throughout the whole year,” added Márk Maczelka.

20.12.2024

Promoting Sustainable Consumer Behavior with Reliable Green Communication – A Discussion with GVH at the BCSDH Communication Working Group

News

How much are “conscious” consumers influenced by false green labels and claims? What happens when consumers themselves become obstacles to our green commitments? How can we engage consumers in our sustainability efforts? How can we avoid greenwashing? Will claims of carbon neutrality achieved through offsetting be blacklisted under the expected EU regulations?

Dr. Izabella Szoboszlai, Member of the Competition Council and representative of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH), engaged in a discussion with participants of the BCSDH Communication Working Group on avoiding greenwashing. The session, held on September 24, 2024, was hosted by Zsuzsa Berman, Regional Communications Manager of BNP Paribas, who welcomed the attendees with a brief introductory presentation.

A consumer survey by the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) revealed that manufacturers and retailers bear significant responsibility, as consumers are highly receptive to green claims. Even those who consider themselves conscious consumers can be misled by false claims and green labels. We can only expect consumers to adopt sustainable consumption habits if they can trust the information provided on products. They need access to all essential knowledge about a product’s reparability, recyclability, and environmental impact before making a purchase, and they must be protected from misleading claims. Building the trust required to involve consumers in sustainability efforts is only possible through credible green communication, free from exaggeration and focused on transparency.

During the discussion, participants gained insight into the key aspects of current and upcoming EU regulations. A stricter legal framework awaits companies, but the ultimate goal is to ensure that a genuine green transition also takes place on the consumer side. The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) supports businesses in navigating this landscape with its recommendations.

03.12.2024

New Expert Webinar Series and Essential ESRS Glossary

Member News

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02.12.2024

Our inclusive culture is the secret of our 170 years of success

Member News

International research* shows that companies that treat employees equally, regardless of demographic and cultural background, have significantly higher levels of innovation and greater resilience to crises. The 170-year history of Dreher Breweries bears witness to this observation. It is therefore of the utmost importance that diversity and tolerance become an even more integral part of our corporate culture and strategy through measurable and accountable commitments and concrete programmes.

In March 2021, we formally joined „The LEAD Network Pledge 2020”, in which we made a commitment to gender balance and to support diversity in the workplace. Over the past 3 years, we have taken a number of steps towards achieving these sustainability goals. On 2 October 2024, Mike James, CEO of Dreher Breweries, and Paolo Lanzarotti, CEO of AEI, jointly signed this commitment.

„I am convinced that fostering diversity, collaboration, and a constructive corporate culture is both our tradition and our future at Dreher Breweries. Throughout history, we have witnessed countless times how a community united by knowledge and commitment—regardless of age, gender, or cultural background—can overcome the greatest challenges. Since signing the Pledge in 2021, we have demonstrated our dedication to fulfilling our commitments. We established our own DE&I Committee, launched new training programs for all employees, and introduced new policies in several areas. These are important steps, and more will follow” – said Mike James, CEO of Dreher Breweries, at the signing ceremony.

Diversity programmes and policies

As a natural next step in our systematic culture building process that has been underway in our company for more than 10 years, we launched our Supportive Leadership and Unconscious Bias training in 2021, where we help our decision makers with skills and capability development programmes, and by transforming our systems and processes to support our employees’ own ambitions and career goals.

We work with many of our dedicated colleagues to further strengthen and develop diversity, equity and inclusion at both individual and organisational levels. Alongside the We Are Open audit, we are accompanied in this process by the Heroes’ Square Company, which through its experiential programmes helps us to identify situations where we can make a difference, with a particular focus on unconscious bias, the ‘bystander effect’ and growth mindset. Based on a regional initiative, we have also created or initiated several policies to support our employees in various difficult or challenging life situations (e.g.: sabbatical; extended support for maternity; paternity leave).

The DE&I Committee, which represents the whole Dreher organisation, was established in 2023 and has been active since then with a concrete action plan. The main aim of the Committee’s work is to promote an inclusive culture in a way that as many Dreher employees as possible can embrace and experience.

„Our corporate culture and employer image has been consistently built over the years along a multi-level and complex plan. Our priorities have included increasing the engagement, satisfaction and well-being of our existing white and blue-collar employees, improving internal and external employer perceptions, and reaching out more effectively to potential employees – particularly younger age groups. Building on the work we have done over the past few years, Dreher’s corporate culture has evolved very nicely, as evidenced by the metrics we have been able to track. We are proud that in this year’s Global Engagement and Compliance Survey, Dreher’s internal engagement score has increased by an outstanding rate, now well above the Hungarian benchmark and scoring highly on ‘management supports diversity’ and ’employees are treated with respect’, which are key elements of our corporate culture” – said Éva Kreiter, HR Director of Dreher Breweries.

McKinsey & Company (2020) – Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters

Harvard Business Review (2018) – How and Where Diversity Drives Financial Performance

Boston Consulting Group (2018) – How Diverse Leadership Teams Boost Innovation

02.12.2024