The national charity Caritas Portuguesa has recorded a 20% increase in requests for help from Portuguese families affected by the economic crisis in the last year.
The middle classes now are joining the queue at the soup kitchen door, as are members of the upper middle class for the first time.
"We knew in Portugal that any problem of this type always reaches the lower classes first because they are the most vulnerable, but for the crisis to hit the upper middle class was once unthinkable," said the president of Caritas Portuguesa.
"There are people who used to do well being self employed and running buisnessses, but the crisis has made it impossible to make ends meet. Lots of them tried to save their businesses and borrowed more and more money to do so. Lots these people then entered a spiral of debt that has led to poverty, a new state that is not going to end for them in the near future," said Eugenio Fonseca speaking after the General Council of Caritas Portuguesa, held this weekend at Fatima.
According to Fonseca, between October 2012 and October 2013 there was a national increase of 20% of help and care given to families with some parishes recording a 65% increase in demand.
Asked what people need the most Fonseca said, "their needs are for food and then two things: help in mot losing their homes, and help with electricity water and gas. Then help for healthcare expenses and in some cases help for the children to continue to study, especially those in higher education."
The General Council of Caritas Portuguesa approved at the weekend meeting a strategic plan for the next two years where every parish must "have a social action group properly organised and trained by qualified personnel to meet the challenges that are increasingly complex in terms of the economic and social life of our country."
"This crisis has brought a change in the profile of poverty in Portugal, so you need to have social agents that are duly prepared to respond to these new challenges."
