SPAR Italy, known locally as DESPAR Italia, has received a WeFree award in recognition for its support to San Patrignano, an Italian charity that operates a large rehabilitation centre and raises awareness for addiction prevention.

The charity has been running a national addiction prevention scheme for school children since 2005. The programme, called WeFree Days, has already involved 300,000 students from 1,500 schools across the country. This year’s WeFree programme was held online, including a non-competitive running event. Many celebrities from sport, culture and entertainment featured in interactive sessions and live chats on themes such as addiction and healthy lifestyles. The sessions also raised awareness about the many resources that are available to the youth to help develop their talents.

The award, arranged by the charity and received by DESPAR Italia during the 2020 WeFree Days, underscores the strong link that exists between the WeFree Days slogan ‘The world I want depends on us’ and DESPAR’s current tagline, ‘The value of our choices’.

For DESPAR, choice is based on freedom and awareness, as DESPAR’s General Manager Lucio Fochesato told us, “the choices each of us make every day determine how we want to live and this, in turn, is the value of our freedom of choice”.

Through initiatives such as WeFree, DESPAR Italia works every day for a more sustainable future, not only for the environment, but also on a social level.

DESPAR Italia is celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the SPAR Brand’s presence in Italy, supported by a new communications strategy highlighting the values and choices that drive the brand. Expertise, local sourcing, responsible retailing, product quality and value are among the core values that inform the SPAR Italy business. This communications campaign has brought DESPAR Italia back on national TV, with several new SPAR Brand videos being broadcast for a week each, such as this video.

Source: DESPAR Italia 

Read more news from SPAR Italy.

About SPAR Italy

SPAR International first granted a licence for the operation of the SPAR Brand to SPAR Italy in 1959. The first store opened in the latter part of 1960 and with it, SPAR became the first partnership of retailers and wholesalers to operate in Italy. SPAR Italy, known locally as DESPAR Italia, licenses regional partners, all of whom work together to grow the brand across the country.

The DESPAR Partners operate stores under three formats: DESPAR neighbourhood Supermarkets, EUROSPAR Supermarkets and INTERSPAR Hypermarkets. Many of the larger format stores are company-owned, reflecting the scale of investment required. While the majority of the company’s turnover is acquired through these larger format stores, the independently owned neighbourhood supermarkets remain a key part of the business.