SPAR South Africa has once again demonstrated the value of community involvement, providing support to those who need it most.

Support for charity after SUPERSPAR burns down

In September 2017, a SUPERSPAR located in the town of Bela Bela, in South Africa’s Limpopo Province tragically burnt down. As a consequence, the owner was no longer able to offer work for his 148 employees, some of whom had worked in the store for over 17 years.

In a move that illustrates exactly what makes the SPAR Brand so unique, instead of employees losing their jobs, the store owner chose to continue paying them to carry out various charity projects around the city while the store was being rebuilt. The SPAR employees have since collectively clocked up more than 30,000 man hours of community service, painting schools, building churches (from the ground up), cultivating vegetable gardens for poorer communities, and even refurbishing a hospital.

An amazing feat in the face of great adversity.

SPAR KwaZulu-Natal’s Support for the Gozololo Day Care Centre

The Gozololo Day Care Centre is a refuge for orphaned children and a charity that SPAR KwaZulu-Natal (a division of the SPAR Group LTD of South Africa) has been supporting for the past 13 years with the provision of both dry and perishable groceries.

Gozololo, which is the Zulu term for ‘stay a while’ or ‘rest a while’, has its primary site situated a few miles away from the SPAR KwaZulu-Natal Distribution Centre. It has now expanded to three sites in the greater Durban area and currently provides support for approximately 600 children.

The Centre has a crèche and preschool facility and once the children are of school-going age, they attend a local school and visit the Day Care Centre in the afternoons where they are supplied with a hot meal and assistance with their homework. Gozololo is based on the concept that destitute and orphaned children should be supported within their communities and form part of a family unit – a sentiment which resonates with SPAR’s focus on family and community.

As a further contribution to the Centre, this year SPAR International selected Gozololo as its charity of choice to support through its annual Seasonal Greetings Card campaign. The campaign encourages children from the chosen charity to enter an art competition to design SPAR International’s Seasonal Greetings Card. In return, the charity receives a financial donation from SPAR International.

The 2017 card was designed by Sthobile Mpanza, who was first brought to the Gozololo Day Care Centre as an infant. Although she has graduated from junior school and is now attending high school, she is still provided with after school support and food by the Centre. SPAR International has donated money to provide children with early educational materials.

About SPAR South Africa: 

SPAR South Africa was established in 1963 and operates four retail formats: SPAR, SUPERSPAR, KWIKSPAR and SPAR Express. South Africa was the first country outside of Europe to join the SPAR organisation.

The SPAR Partner grants licences to independent retailers to operate stores under one of the four formats, with almost all of the current store portfolio being independently owned. In 2016, sales per m² increased by 6% in Euro terms, and sales for the year from SPAR South Africa’s 821 stores were €4.47 billion.