At Christmas, Father David and members of St. Luke's congregation presented a cheque and food to the Director of the Faro food bank.
The food bank is one of the main charities supported by St. Luke's congregation and the cheque included cash gifts from the family of Gerald Prosser deceased and the Bertie Watson Trust.

On the 14th of December, Father Christmas paid an early visit to the Casa do Povo in Estoi. Since 2006 a new van has been on the wish list of Estoi Casa do Povo and Santa Claus and the Rotary Club of Estoi Palace International (RCEPI) were able to make this wish come true. 14500 euros had been raised over the years with help from the American Association of Portuguese Emigrants and the 231 citizens from Benemerito. There was still a shortfall of around 14.000 euros.

Friends and neighbours in Mato do Santo Espirito, Tavira, gathered together to raise funds for a very worthy cause, CAIC ‘ A Gaviota’. A childrens home in Tavira.
The idea was to have a free Quiz Night followed by a raffle to raise money to ensure that the children there had a good Christmas.

A walk of just 3.54km (2.2 miles) has brought life-changing mobility to a young boy suffering a degenerative illness.
This year’s annual West Coast Charity Bar Walk in Aljezur - they call it a fancy dress pub crawl! - raised €2,717 for local causes.

On Wednesday 22nd November, afpop Council President Chris Ireland was delighted to receive a cheque from the President of Rotary Club Estoi Palace International, Manuela Robinson, for €1,250, donated by the Rotary Club to afpop’s OPERATION SHOCK campaign. This fund raising initiative by afpop, in conjunction with the Federation of Bombeiros of the Algarve, has the aim of providing a mobile defibrillator unit for each of the 17 Bombeiros commands in the Algarve. The target amount is €20,000, which will enable afpop to purchase and supply the equipment to the Bombeiros.

What an amazing evening on Saturday Night. StreetLife turned A Caravela Restuarante in Moncarapacho into the “StreetLife Jazz Café” for the night by putting up a few posters and playing Jazz while 52 StreetLife supporters participated in a fun QuizWhiz night.

The new venue, A Caravela Restaurante in Moncarapacho, did StreetLife proud. The food was extremely good, hot and plenty of it . . . the atmosphere was intimate and cosy and this created more banter and fun. The sign of a good time is the level of chatting going on, and there was plenty of that!! As well as laughter and smiles. An excellent formula for a successful event.

Buddies Algarve Ladies Lunch (BALL) held their latest lunch at 'A Tasquinha', Lagoa (a little gem of a restaurant) for the presentation to the Captain of the Lagoa Bomberios the sum of €1,910.

The lunch was attended by 32 members of BALL who, with other members from the group, had collected the funds from the monthly lunches held during the course of the year. Captain Gabriel attended to accepted the money from the group organisers Carole Good-Dixon and Pat Roberts.

Nobel International School Algarve hosted its annual Christmas Bazaar on the 11th November, attracting more than 200 visitors and raising £3,280 for local children´s charities.

The Bazaar takes over the school´s inner courtyard, turning it into a Christmas market with stalls, food and drinks and traditional fairground games such as Tin Can Alley and Welly Throwing, and a bouncy castle proved very popular.