Over the course of the last few months, the Banco Alimentar Contra a Fome (BACF), the national foodbank charity, has seen the call on its service increase dramatically in the Algarve, from 16,000 requests for assistance to more than 24,000. Understandably this has caused a huge strain on their resources, made worse by the fact that at their first food collection in May, they were unable to have volunteers in the supermarkets asking for food donations from shoppers, which created a massive shortfall in their supplies.

Without help to pay for the sterilization of pets owned by needy residents, more animals will be abandoned. The cat colony situation is already catastrophic and more and more stray dogs are appearing on the streets.

APAA and other associations do as much as possible, but we all have limited funds and the government should be doing much more to alleviate the problem.

On June 30th, 2020 an interactive paediatric simulator was delivered to the Paediatric department of Faro Hospital (CHUA- Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve).  Rotary Club Estoi Palace International was delighted to be a contributor to this excellent initiative.  The cost of the simulator was almost 25.000 and this was raised by contributions from Faro and Moncarapacho Councils, the Rotary Clubs of Albufeira, Almancil, Estoi, Faro, Lagoa, Lagos, Olhao and Tavira plus individual rotarian donators.

An Algarve west coast community association has stepped up its support of local families suffering hardships during the pandemic.

The organisation which early in April began distributing boxes of fruit and vegetables, has this week donated €500 to the area’s Sociedade S.Vicente de Paulo, Aljezur, to reinforce that support.

The Madrugada Support Centre in Luz has re-opened and will operate its normal business hours between 10:00 and 16:00, Monday through Thursday.
Enquires will continue to be handled through our support line 282 761 375 on Fridays.

The Holiday Inn Algarve, Armação de Pêra is very proud to be a part of the growing #MyTravelPledge campaign to offer free short breaks to healthcare workers.
The idea of the campaign is to give something for healthcare workers to look forward to, and boost morale, at this hugely difficult time.

Did you know that the municipality of Lagos has almost 30,000 residents and that only 4% of these are members and support The Humanitarian Association of the Voluntary Firemen of Lagos?
The association has around 80 Firemen at your service, always at your disposal to assist you in any situation of protection of people and property. Your contribution is essential to continue the mission of this association, as well as to improve our services, and renew vehicles and protective and rescue equipment.

The State of Emergency declared by the Portuguese government has resulted in unexpected consequences. It created a serious economic disaster. The number of people that lost their sources of income, their livelihood is increasing daily and is affecting the most vulnerable people across our country – these are people with the least resources at their disposal and are people in desperate need of HELP right now and for the foreseable future!