By DAISY SAMPSON daisy.sampson@theresidentgroup.com
Christmas is a time for giving and in the Algarve this festive season there are many opportunities for the community to help others in need.
The Spirit of Christmas Fair to be held on December 1 at Oceano Atlântico in Portimão and then at the Vila Sol Hotel in Vilamoura on December 8 will be a chance for shoppers to stock up for Christmas while supporting Algarve charities.
Organisers of the Spirit of Christmas Fair, Linda Gonçalves of the Griffin Bookshop and Alison Slater of Collections, have created the fairs to combine business in the region with charity and Christmas.
Alison Slater told the Algarve Resident: “We really wanted to hold a fair on the traditionally popular bank holidays in December and while Linda and I are able to provide the expertise of organising the stalls, the venues and the advertising, the Christmas side of the fair is being handled by the charities ACCA and Madrugada.”
All money after expenses will be donated to the Algarve children’s charity ACCA and Madrugada, the association which helps people with life limiting illnesses.
“The charities will be bringing the sparkle to the fairs and while we will be donating the profits, the charities will also be selling goods and running tombolas and raffles to help boost their funds,” said Alison Slater.
ACCA will be using the funds raised by the fair for their continuing support of children in the local Almancil community and for specific projects this Christmas.
Wanda Crawford from ACCA told the Algarve Resident: “Part of the money from the fairs will be used to fund our annual Angel programme where we buy presents for children who are in institutions across the Algarve while the rest of the funds will be put to ongoing projects and specific cases.”
She added: “Every month we have commitments to funding community projects for physiotherapy, speech therapy programmes and providing glasses to children and money from the fair will be used for these ongoing projects.”
Community support
ACCA also work on specific individual cases and some of the money raised from the fair will also be put towards a case of an 18 year old student who is suffering from Anorexia Nervosa: “This student was referred to us through the Almancil Social and Cultural Association (ASCA) and we will be helping to fund treatments for her both for physiological and physiological care.
“We work with ASCA who identify children in need in the community with teachers in the schools also referring children who need help to them.
She added: “It is so difficult to be able to keep up with the funds needed. Every case that I hear of touches my heart and we try to help as many people as we possibly can.”
Madrugada also uses funds raised for ongoing work and will be using donations from the Spirit of Christmas Fair to continue to provide end of life palliative care in the community.
Alison Blair, president of Madrugada, said: “All funds that are raised go to providing end of life palliative care in the Algarve. We use money to pay for nursing and psychological care for those who choose to be supported in their own homes and donations to us are used to pay for this ongoing service.”
The service is based on the principle that those who are unable to afford care are given it free of charge while those who can make a donation to the fund: “We provide care at cost to those who are financially secure but ask that those who can afford to make a donation to help those who are unable to pay for care.”
The Spirit of Christmas Fairs are free to enter and are open on each day from 11am until 5pm.
For further information about the Spirit of Christmas Fairs, please contact Richard Greening by calling 282 358 014 or email algarvexmasfair@yahoo.co.uk
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