Children living with the genetic, and so far incurable, disease Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) have skin as vulnerable as the wings of a butterfly. Also known as “butterfly children”, those suffering from this rare condition can receive help at the EB House Austria in Salzburg. EB House is the only specialised EB clinic in Austria and is financed exclusively by private funds. This year, INTERSPAR Austria has donated the sales proceeds of so-called “butterfly breads” baked in INTERSPAR bakeries, with the donation totalling €50,000. Over the past twelve years, INTERSPAR has donated a total of €516,500 to this cause.

“Butterfly bread” is a butterfly-shaped brioche pastry with hail sugar. In 2019, INTERSPAR raised a total of €50,000 with the sale of these pastries, which it recently handed over to patient organisation DEBRA Austria. SPAR trainees were particularly motivated to support the cause, selling the pastries at their own stand in the EUROPARK Salzburg.

“For twelve years now, our employees in bakeries and hypermarkets have been extremely committed to our charity campaign. The impressive cumulative donation of €516,500 would not have been possible without our customers, and I would like to thank them for their generous contribution”, said Markus Kaser, Managing Director of INTERSPAR Austria.

The EB House Austria opened in Salzburg 15 years ago. Two years later, INTERSPAR became a partner of the project. The globally recognised expert centre houses diagnosis, treatment, research, and training facilities tailored towards EB under one roof.

“Clinical studies have been an important focus of our work. In addition, the support of parents and the relief of the side effects of EB are very important to us”, explains Prof. Dr Johann Bauer from the University Clinic for Dermatology (SALK/PMU) in Salzburg.

Progress in the development of a therapy is foreseeable, with the approval of a blister-inhibiting cream in the final phases.

“These successes show how important the work of the EB House is right now. That is why we want to remain a partner of this important institution and will continue to carry out fundraising campaigns with the support of our customers”, added Markus Kaser.

Source: SPAR Austria

Read more news from SPAR Austria.

About SPAR Austria

The origins of SPAR in Austria date back to 1954 and the current SPAR AG was created in 1970, when the original founding families joined with other regional wholesalers to form SPAR Austria AG – a 100% privately owned Austrian company.

With sales of €7.19 billion in 2019 and impressive sales growth of 4.5% SPAR Austria is now the market growth leader in the supermarket and hypermarket sector for the tenth consecutive year. SPAR Austria’s sales growth was more than double that of the Austrian food retail industry’s estimated total average growth of 2.1%.