They are driven by the desire to help others and ensure that everyone can have at least one good meal a day, one of the basic human needs. They give of their personal and professional time, without expecting anything in return, except for goods for the Algarve's Food Bank Against Hunger (BACF) and are once again in supermarkets in the region, waiting for the contribution of those who can help.
Today, another national collection of this institution was launched, which has already become the brand for food aid in Portugal and in many countries. At a time of crisis, more and more families need support to ensure food on the table, but more and more are also those who want to make a contribution.
The BACF do Algarve leaves for this new journey of solidarity with the largest number of volunteers since it was founded four years ago. At the same time, it will debut new equipment, offered by benefactors.
In the radio program “Impressions”, run jointly by the Sul Informação and by Rádio Universitária do Algarve RUA FM, the general coordinator and logistics coordinator of the BACF in the Algarve, Nuno Alves and Ida Martins, made a point of stressing the growing involvement of civil society.
The moving walkway that today and tomorrow will help in the work of sorting the hundreds of tons that are expected to be collected and taken to the headquarters of this entity in the region, in Faro, was offered by foreigners residing in the Algarve who recently approached the Food Bank to learn more about the work they do and did not want to be left out.
The history of this moving walkway, as well as the 210 new warehouse containers, industrial washing machine, computer equipment and a refrigerated van have a common denominator: they were offered to BACF do Algarve by groups of citizens who came together to help this cause.
«At the end of last year, the foreign community residing in the Algarve began to approach us, to find out who we were. A small group of resident foreigners at first got to know our work and raised some funds themselves. From here, we actively sought to look for institutions for resident foreigners», said Nuno alves, who added that groups of Portuguese citizens had already mobilized to collect material.
The involvement of patrons is allowing the institution's work to be increasingly efficient and, above all, it is opening doors for the amount of food distributed annually to increase. With the proper equipment, which has already been partially guaranteed, the BACF do Algarve will be able to collect, conserve and distribute food that needs refrigeration.
«We have, at this moment, practically closed the offer of a cold room for our headquarters and we have another one under negotiation, revealed Nuno Alves. This covers the refrigeration needs for the warehouse, but “two more refrigerated vans are needed in addition to the one that already exists, to make the collection and distribution”.
The ability to receive refrigerated and even frozen products, "the next step" according to Ida Martins, would allow the Algarve Food Bank to get even closer to the primary objective of this type of entity, the fight against waste.
“The fight against waste is homework that has to be done by each Food Bank in each region, through contacts with the food industry, agriculture and fisheries and distribution. The idea is to guarantee that all the surpluses of these industries, instead of being destroyed or taking a less suitable path, can and should be delivered to the Food Bank», explained Nuno Alves.
The BACF in the algarve already distributes 600 tons of food annually, part of which is obtained outside the campaign. "The percentage of what is collected in the two campaigns has been decreasing, although we have always been increasing the number of food collected in these actions", he said.
Even so, the volume of food “is still not enough” to respond to all requests and there is even a waiting list of 12 institutions.
The Algarve Food Bank works exclusively with volunteers and its expenses are covered in full by companies and citizens. The Chamber of Faro it also provides important support, with the ceding of the space that serves as the entity's headquarters and a city official, who is assigned to the BACF warehouse.
Recently, said Nuno Alves, the institution spoke with the 16 mayors of the region and asked for an annual aid "of 250 euros", to help with fixed costs, which come to 8 thousand euros a year. “Everyone immediately said yes. But, until today, we have only received the support of two municipalities», he said.
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