Having a strong financial balance sheet is simply not enough – a company is also obliged to act in a responsible manner. Whether such action is in the form of monetary donations, gifts in kind, or cooperative ventures: The 18 shopping locations owned and operated by SES Spar European Shopping Centers in Austria have provided support for and/or have initiated numerous charitable projects throughout the course of 2022. The Advent season has presented the company with a host of opportunities to further strengthen its social commitment.

“A company’s social responsibility entails so much more than simply doing individual good deeds. It is the fundamental mindset that shapes our company as well as our workforce and permeates our actions,” says SES COO Christoph Andexlinger, who describes social commitment as a cornerstone of SES’s corporate policy. Each center, for example, supports a wide variety of projects in its respective region throughout the year.

“Our centers are founding their activities on long-standing donation cooperations. The excellent footfall numbers enjoyed by our centers, as well as all of our communication channels, are used in the service of a good cause,” says Andexlinger.

In 2021, activities launched by SES centers raised a total of more than 400,000 euros, which was donated to local associations and charitable causes. The Lions Club flea market at EUROPARK Salzburg alone raised a new record amount of 95,000 euros in October of this year. Every year, SES also makes a donation to “Doctors without Borders”.

Charitable Campaigns at SES Centers during the 2022 Christmas Season
At EUROPARK Salzburg, RETTET DAS KIND SALZBURG, a charitable campaign that is in its 11th year, has been underway since mid-November and will continue until 5 January. The proceeds, which are generated via an over-sized donation box, a benefit concert held at the center, as well as from the sale of cookies, doves and poinsettias provided by the INTERSPAR bakery, will be donated to children and young people in need throughout the city of Salzburg.

At VARENA in Vöcklabruck, the center's disused Christmas tree ornaments, made by Gmundner Keramik, can be obtained in exchange for voluntary donations. The initiative is being carried out in cooperation with Ladies Circle Club and Agora Attersee/Traunsee and the proceeds will go to KinderVilla in Steinbach am Attersee.

At the ZEHNER gift certificate sales counter at FORUM 1 in Salzburg, Caritas donation boxes have been set up, into which customers can deposit donations in the form of ZEHNER gift certificates or cash for Haus Elisabeth. SES will round off the amount donated. In addition, donations in kind are provided by retail partners dm and Hervis.

Gingerbread houses are made at CITYPARK in Graz throughout the Christmas season. For a contribution toward expenses, children will be able to take part in the activity every Saturday during the Advent season. All of the money collected by the center will be donated to Caritas.

A food drive for the benefit of the “Tischlein Deck Dich” association is scheduled to take place at ZIMBAPARK Bludenz/Bürs from 5 to 10 December. The association collects perfectly good food that would otherwise be disposed of for various reasons and distributes it to people in need.

“Warm a Soul” from 12 December 2022 to 7 January 2023
Eight SES centers in Austria (EUROPARK Salzburg, ATRIO Villach, FISCHAPARK Wiener Neustadt, HUMA ELEVEN and Q19 in Vienna, MARIANDL Krems, MURPARK Graz, and SILLPARK Innsbruck), in cooperation with the digital agency LOOP 2022, are once again contributing to the “Warm a Soul” campaign, whereby winter jackets are collected, together with Caritas, for people in need.

Gift Wrapping and Donations All in One: Center Gift-wrapping Stations
Gift-wrapping stations will be available at numerous SES centers once again this year. The free wrapping service is being offered in combination with a good cause. For example, customers at MURPARK Graz can make donations to the “Steirer helfen Steirern” aid organization while their gifts are being wrapped. At HUMA ELEVEN in Vienna, soccer legend Herbert Prohaska is personally on hand to help wrap presents for a good cause. At ATRIO in Villach, volunteers from the “MiOS – Miteinander am Ossiachersee” association have been helping visitors since 25 November.

The GERNGROSS department store in Vienna is organizing a fundraising campaign in cooperation with the seventh district of Vienna for the “Neubauhilft” initiative, which provides assistance to people in Ukraine as well as to refugees in the district. From 8 December until Christmas Eve, visitors will be able to support the initiative via donations made directly at the wrapping station located inside the center.