Albufeira Firefighters already have more than 10,000 euros in donations from Balaia Bowls Club. For the second consecutive year, the Balaia Bowling Club, consisting mainly of members of the English community residing in Albufeira and in some bordering counties, in an accumulation of several initiatives that took place throughout the year, after having been presented a relation of the greater needs of the firefighters, make an expressive donation in equipment that amounts to ten thousand euros.
The equipment includes the purchase of 100 units of uniforms, facial pieces, which will allow each firefighter to be individually equipped with his own equipment, to attach to respiratory devices that allow them to be in oxygen-free atmospheres, personal safety alarms and radio communication equipment.

For the Fire Department this donation reflects the recognition of the importance of the work that has been developed, the concern to give better conditions to the women and men who serve the cause and motivate to continue to serve with more and better security.

We thought it would be a good idea to introduce you to some of the people who give their time to help at Goldra. Let´s start with two ladies who take on the important task of walking some of the dogs on a regular basis.
This is Heather. Like so many of us she moved here for the weather and the lifestyle, and she has been here now for twelve years. She made contact with Goldra via Lil and Sonia, and has been walking dogs regularly for around 8 months. Again like so many, Heather has adopted a dog from the Sanctuary, and you can see how well she and Sandy get on. In common with all of us who work for Goldra, she is always astonished by the level of dedication shown by Jan and Ray, and keeps coming back because it is so obvious that the dogs are happy and well.cared for.

As a frequent visitor to the Algarve 91 year old Ron from the East End of London was well aware of how desperate for funding the Portuguese fire service are, so decided on THIS visit he would do his bit!

He and his daughter rallied up some sponsors and on Sept 24th Ron 'flew' the 720 metre long zip line from Spain to Portugal, travelling at a speed of 70 kilometres per hour, to raise money for the Bombeiros!!! 

With rain in the forecast (finally), autumn is upon us, and activity at and around Goldra has picked up considerably in the last couple of weeks. CLICK HERE to read the October update.

On the 5th of October A Charity Party (Arraial de Beneficência) was held at the Poeta Emiliano da Costa School in Estoi. The event was jointly organised by the Rotary Club Estoi Palace International and the Agrupamento de Escolas Pinheiro e Rosa to raise funds to assist a local Estoi girl Beatriz who has a very rare degenerative eye disease and her nearest treatment centre is in Spain and she has to attend every 6 months. Her parents cannot support her medical and travel costs and her university fees. The Estoi community joined together to help her.

The Vale Da Telha Charity Bar Walkers raised more than €2,000 for local children last weekend—and they also raised a thousand smiles along the 2.2-mile (3.54km) route on the Algarve’s west coast.

The final sum is expected to be significantly higher once the last donations and collecting tins are in, which would make a total well in excess of €7,000 for local charities over the three years since this annual event was started by local resident Cath Baker.

Volunteer that is! It's all a big plus as far as I'm concerned and I've been doing it for 20 years here in the Algarve. From helping set up the first charity shop for APAA in Montechoro to Castelo do Sonhos in Silves and AAG here in Guia.

For the last 2 years I've been volunteering with an organisation called REFOOD but I'll come back to them later. First the reasons why.

ACCA, the children’s charity that is focused on helping needy kids across the Algarve, topped its record and kitted out 866 youngsters with learning essentials

The growing success of ACCA’s fundraising activities meant that more children than ever before started the new school year with confidence… and the basics that will allow them to take full part in classes, and progress.