The LPP Foundation awarded in Benefactor of the Year Competition
The LPP Foundation was awarded the title of Benefactor of the Year as part of the 23rd edition of the competition organised by the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland. Eleven entities which, in the opinion of the Jury, implemented the most interesting social projects in 2019, qualified for the finals. The LPP Foundation was awarded in the category of corporate foundation for its cooperation with St. Brother Albert’s Aid Society as part of the fight against poverty and counteracting social exclusion of people in difficult life situations.
The goal of the “Benefactor of the Year” competition organisers – which has remained unchanged for 23 years – is to promote the most responsible and socially committed companies. The LPP Foundation was nominated to the 23rd edition of the competition by St. Brother Albert’s Aid Society for, among others, a project of collecting used Eco Aware clothes carried out in stores of LPP brands. Its aim is to prevent social exclusion of vulnerable people and provide them with decent living conditions and possibilities of functioning in society. As a result, in 2019 alone, nearly 3 tonnes of second-hand clothing was donated free of charge. The LPP Foundation also donated 1750 new clothes for the Society’s charges and supported the Streetworkers’ programme of the Society, thanks to which field workers patrolling the streets of cities and reaching homeless people were equipped with warm clothes needed during many hours of work in unfavourable weather conditions.
St. Brother Albert’s Aid Society is the largest, oldest and independent non-governmental organisation in the Pomorskie Voivodeship, whose aim is to help poor, homeless and socially excluded people. The projects implemented are local, regional, national and international in nature. Since 1989, it has been incessantly providing, among other things, shelter and meals for the homeless, running both accommodation facilities and training flats. It deals with broadly understood social and professional activation, education and psychological counselling for socially excluded people. The LPP Foundation’s assistance projects are part of the Society’s strategy of activities developed for the years 2019-2024, one of the main pillars of which is to provide clothing for the homeless who are beneficiaries of this support.
– We were one of the first companies from the Pomorskie Voivodship to decide, many years ago, to support the Society in providing clothing to people in need and, at the same time, to pursue another important objective, namely prevention of waste. When in 2018 we decided to implement the Eco Aware second-hand clothing collection project in our stores, St. Brother Albert’s Aid Society was a natural partner chosen by us in this undertaking. The scale of needs of homeless people in Poland makes the amount of funds available to this end insufficient. Before we started our cooperation with the Society, clothing for the homeless had to be purchased, which, with limited financial resources of the aid institutions, constituted a big challenge. Now, the amount of garments we donate meets the needs of the wards, and the saved funds can be used for other activities – Patrycja Zbytniewska, President of the LPP Foundation.
The LPP Foundation continues the activities which LPP, together with the Society, has been carrying out for almost 20 years to counteract social exclusion in Poland, thus achieving the first of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The award is the crowning achievement of this cooperation and a driver for further action for the benefit of those in need.
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LPP SA is a Polish family business and one of the fastest growing clothing companies in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. For over 25 years it has been successfully operating in Poland and abroad, offering its collection already on 25 markets, including in such prestigious capitals as London, Berlin, Tel Aviv or Moscow. LPP SA manages five fashion brands: Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito, and Sinsay. The company has a chain of over 1700 stores with the total area of over 1 million sq.m. The online offer of the brands collections is available on 31 markets. On the basis of a global supply chain, the Polish clothing producer distributes over 265 million pieces of clothing to three continents. LPP plays another important role as it employs over 24 thousand people in its offices and sales structures in Poland, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the WIG20 index and belongs to the prestigious MSCI Poland index.