In keeping with its policy of supporting local charitable organisations, Almancil International Rotary Club (AIRC) has donated €500 to the Banco Alimentar (food bank) based in Faro.
At a recent meeting of the club, Susana Guerreiro (BA public image coordinator) spoke about the work of the food bank and the constant need for funds.
It isn’t until someone like Susana explains just how much the food bank does for the needy that one can truly appreciate the enormity of the financial hurdles and logistical problems they face. Since its creation, BA Algarve has distributed some 2,800 tons of food supplies in the district.
With the help of 126 charitable institutions, the food is distributed to 22,000 people.
Portugal currently has 20 food banks with the one in Faro being the fourth largest. Although it delivers approximately 30kg to each assisted person per year, BA Algarve has the lowest per capita supply of food. The average for other food banks is 90kg per person per year.
With the donations of fresh fruit and vegetables in the Algarve not being sufficient to meet needs, at the beginning of July agreement was reached with donors in the north of the country to provide fruit and vegetables and, in the four months since then, 110 tons of fruit has been delivered free of charge to the Algarve.
However, the BA has to pay to return the packaging to the donors which they anticipate will cost close to €6,000 per year. Susana told us that as well as the donors of the fruit and vegetables, the bank has found a ‘godparent’, Plastidom, which manufactures plastic containers and they have agreed to donate the sum of €2,400.
The BA is now also embarking on a monthly collection of five tons of fish and shellfish to increase its distribution to 60 tons per year. In order to store and deliver the fish, it was necessary to purchase 1,000 re-usable boxes at a cost of €8,450.
Of course they also need money to cover transportation costs, which is why AIRC supports them whenever it can.
What has “really surprised” the Rotary club is that in 2012 and 2013 the BA approached every city council in the Algarve to make a small donation. The councils of Faro and Portimão generously provided storage facilities and pay electricity and water bills, but the only cash donation received in 2013 was from the Council of Loulé (€750). In 2012, of all 16 councils there were six contributions in a total of €2,000.
In thanking AIRC for their donation, the president and director of the BA, Nuno Cabrita Alves, said: “This €500 donation is important not just for the amount itself but especially for the fact that you have acted when others, with a political and moral obligation to do so, did not.”
BA collects food twice a year from local supermarkets, the second of which took place last weekend.
Several AIRC members have signed up to help them but volunteers are always welcome, as are donations which can be made on their website.
www.alimentestaideia.net
Photo: From left: AIRC President Dr Raymond Parfait, Susana Guerreiro from the food bank and Peter Hinze, AIRC Community Services Chairman
www.rotaryalmancil.org
