A group of Portuguese émigrés from the Algarve, now living in Newark, USA, have donated €19,000 to four charitable causes in Loulé and São Brás de Alportel.
The money was donated during a ceremony held at Loulé town hall on Friday (December 4).
An undisclosed sum went towards helping Simão Pereira and Miriam Elisabete, two Algarve children who face serious health issues.
Simão is a two-year-old from Salir who suffers from microcephaly, a neurodevelopmental disorder that causes “motor problems and difficulties with hand-eye coordination”.
Miriam is from São Brás de Alportel and was paralysed when a Herpes virus affected her brain.
Loulé council explains that both children face “daily struggles” and “very expensive treatments”, which is why the former locals decided to step in with financial aid.
The rest of the money has gone to local charity associations Associação Social e Cultural da Tôr and Associação Esperança e Paz.
Loulé mayor Vítor Aleixo attended the ceremony and announced that one of the town’s streets will be named after the association in Newark in commemoration to their “important social work”.
The association is made up of former Algarvians who now live in New Jersey and who help not only Portuguese people living in the US, but disadvantaged people living in the Algarve.
