This year for the twenty-seventh time, the joint Christmas donation campaign of the Charity Service of the Hungarian Order of Malta and SPAR Hungary, Joy to Give! (Adni Öröm!) was launched, through which nearly 200 tonnes of staple food was made into gift packages in 2023, enabling the gifting of 25 000 needy families before the holidays. It is clear that shoppers could also sympathise with motto of this year’s charity initiative: “Your donation is worth treasures”.

The Hungarian Maltese Charity Service and SPAR Hungary have cooperated for the 27th year in a row to organise a donation campaign before Christmas, encouraging shoppers to donate staple food items to people in need. This year, the Joy to Give! personal donation campaign ran from 14 to 19 December in the selected SPAR and INTERSPAR stores, and donation cards were available to be purchased from 1 December by those who opted to help this way.

“This year’s Christmas donation campaign has shown that even few seconds of personal contact can trigger tens of thousands of good deeds. The shoppers who listened to the pleas of volunteers from the Charity Service of the Hungarian Order of Malta showed that there are still many good people with us today and, given the opportunity, they are happy to help. Before Christmas, more than 6,3 million HUF was donated through the donation cards purchased in the SPAR online shop and the stores and supporters offered another 5 million forints via the website of the Maltese Charity Service. Our colleagues used this money, as well as the staple food donated by customers in person in the stores, to put together a total of 25 000 gift packages. The gifts will be delivered to families and people in need all over the country before the holiday,” explained Tamás Romhányi, head of communications at the Charity Service of the Hungarian Order of Malta.

As a socially responsible corporation, SPAR Hungary actively participates in important causes, and supporting families and children in need is one of its key charitable goals. The Hungarian retail chain strives to support families in need even more effectively every year, and to reinforce the importance of donations to a wider range of customers.

“We have deliberately chosen ‘Your donation is worth treasures’ as the motto for this year’s Joy to Give! initiative, as we wanted to make shoppers aware that a kilogramme of flour, a tin of food, a packet of pasta or even a bar of chocolate can be a gift in places where people do not have too much to eat every day. The food items donated in the gift packs will be a real Christmas surprise, bringing joy and happiness to the most disadvantaged families,” explained Márk Maczelka, head of communications at SPAR Hungary. He also added: “Our efforts are also supported by a representative survey commissioned by our company, which shows that one fifth of the Hungarian population between 18 and 65, so nearly 1.3 million people, regularly donate to charity, with the most donations going to people in need and children. Nine out of ten respondents said that even the smallest donation can be useful. Many prefer more personal forms of giving because they are perceived as more humane, direct and reliable. It was also found that 92% of respondents recognised the name of the Charity Service of the Hungarian Order of Malta, and most of them trust the organisation and the fact that donations are given to those most in need.”