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

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.