VAFO, a leading European producer of pet food based in the Czech Republic, has long been a pioneer of responsible business practices in the pet food industry. As part of its ongoing efforts, the company strives to provide long-term assistance in all the countries where it operates. This year, the group has allocated over 700,000 EUR for public benefit activities. The company has also lent a helping hand to abandoned animals in war-torn Ukraine, supporting over twenty animal shelters just before Christmas.
In the Czech Republic, where the group has the majority of its production facilities, VAFO actively participates in local projects. In 2023, the company allocated over 510,000 EUR for public benefit activities. The successful VAFO SPOLUbydlíme grant program, which to date has provided more than 270,000 EUR in support of the communities neighbouring the group’s largest factories in the Central Bohemian and South Bohemian regions, is currently in its third year. The VAFO Family Foundation, dedicated to assisting company employees in difficult life situations, disbursed almost 8,000 EUR this year alone.
In the autumn, the company initiated collaboration with the South Bohemian Food Bank. It donated two pallets of dog food and an equal amount of cat food to the regional branch in České Budějovice. Moreover, VAFO renewed its collaboration with the Czech University of Life Sciences this year and became a member of the Sustainable Business Association. These are a few examples of additional steps the company is taking to further advance its sustainable business practices.
For three consecutive years now, VAFO has chosen to foster goodwill by donating money set aside for the purchase of material Christmas gifts. This year, the funds have gone to war-torn Ukraine, with the company donating over half a million Czech crowns to local animal shelters in addition to providing insulated dog houses for homeless dogs, generators, and heaters. “We decided to put the money where it’s needed most. We believe that this form of assistance makes more sense than material gifts,” says Tereza Alvarez Sone, Marketing Manager at VAFO Group. Instead of Christmas gifts, the company is helping more than twenty facilities in areas affected by the war, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Odessa. The company discontinued its practice of giving material Christmas gifts to clients and partners in 2021 and has since donated the money to charity.
VAFO also looks out for four-legged companions across all of Europe, donating a total of 173,645 kg of pet food this year. In the Czech Republic, for the seventh consecutive year, the company has filled the bowls of abandoned dogs and cats through the Clik&Feed platform. As part of its corporate social strategy, VAFO donates to charitable projects both at home and abroad. For example, one percent of all sales goes towards the restoration of the Baltic Sea, the waters of which bathe the coastlines of countries where VAFO has factories. “We subscribe to the idea of returning goodness to the places from which we take something. In collaboration with a Finnish nonprofit organization, we’re helping to restore the sea, its flora, and the entire ecosystem,” explains Alvarez Sone. In total, last year VAFO Group donated over 700,000 EUR to charitable causes.
