The president of the Portuguese Federation of Food Banks Against Hunger, Isabel Jonet said that she had the feeling that the financial position of households had improved since last year despite an increasing call for food aid.
Jonet said there will always be a need for food aid for as long as there exist "a million seniors living on less than €250 per month and two million people living on less than €420 a month."
"In my perception, and what comes back to us every day from the field, is that there have been times when families were worse off. Since last year the situation of many families we have on our register somehow has improved."
Jonet was at the launch of a new Food Bank centre in Évora and said there now is "increased employment" and the fact that "many households have renegotiated their loans."
"In Portugal, we have many families in debt whose budget was mostly eaten up by housing payments and consumer credit. In the last two years this situation has changed which has meant that families could breathe a little easier."
The Food Bank boss warned that Portugal still is "a country where poverty exists" and that poverty has a face - "people on low incomes."
The 21 Food Banks Against Hunger in Portugal help feed 420,000 people through 2,600 social welfare institutions and despite some easing of instances of abject poverty, demand has not decreased.
"What we can say is that in fact there is an increase in needs and requests from institutions, because they find themselves grappling with more requests from the poorest of families."
Joet still needs support as the food is reaching "the very people who are unemployed and who are in a desperate situation."
Faced with an influx of refugees in the coming months, Isabel Jonet said the Food Banks and their partner institutions "will collaborate with charitable institutions that will host those who are expected to reach Portugal.”
"The Food Banks never delivers food directly to people. We will collaborate with the institutions hosting refugees as we do now to assist all the poor people in Portugal."
