The Vela Solidária project, promoted by Algarve sailor Luís Brito, through the Teia d'Impulsos association, will this year consolidate activities with young people with disabilities or disadvantaged that started in Portimão, but have already expanded to Lagos, Lisbon and Porto/Vila Nova de Gaia.
Luís Brito announced, in statements to the Sul Informação, that “2016 will be a year full of activities for the Solidarity Candle, with the consolidation of activities in Lisbon and Porto/Vila Nova de Gaia. In these two poles, we intend to keep the beneficiaries and institutions with which we have been working and also invite some institutions to introduce their users and beneficiaries to Vela Solidária and thus increase the potential of their personal and social skills».
In Lagos, the objective is “to increase the number of people with disabilities benefiting from our activities, namely through NECI, and to have CASLAS users in the Solidarity Candle».
But there will be even more in this city, as the project envisages “strengthening the partnership with the Clube de Vela de Lagos, which, since last year, has taken in some children who come to them through Vela Solidária in its regular activities”.
In Portimão, where the project began, the initiatives with Lar Bom Samaritano and Casa da Nossa Senhora da Conceição will continue, «developing activities with specific groups of children, in order to facilitate the development of their skills, in a way that these transformations are visible within the institutions themselves», explained Luís Brito.
Between Portimão and Lagos, «we will maintain the female sailing team, made up only of girls who come to us through institutions and with which we have been working for two years.
Throughout 2016, the program of Solidarity Candle provides that this female sailing team will participate "in two regattas along the Algarve coast, and also in the Mateus Rosé Sailing Cup, organized by BBDouro, a partner of Vela Solidária, and in the Quebramar Sailing Week, promoted by Clube Naval de Cascais."
Sailors from the Adapted Sailing School, which is based in the Marina de Portimão, will also participate in the two national competitions, which will take place in Albufeira, on the 2nd and 3rd of April, and in Lisbon, on the 14th and 15th of May.
But the big bet, stresses Luís Brito, will be «the National Championship, where we will be represented and with the responsibility of defending the national title», which will be played in the waters of Viana do Castelo, on the 24th, 25th and 26th of June.
A Solidarity Candle is an original social project by Teia D'Impulsos Association, which uses the practice of sailing as a facilitating tool to raise the levels of socialization, tolerance, self-esteem and communication of its beneficiaries, contributing to the construction of more realistic and concrete life goals, especially in the case of young people.
It is also an excellent tool in valuing the quality of life of people with disabilities, in addition to increasing mobility and autonomy, as well as playing an important role in cognitive stimulation.
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