The “Social Barbershop”, by Cáritas Parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, Matriz de Portimão, won the first edition of the Municipal Volunteering Prize, awarded on Thursday, 5 December.
The ceremony, as part of the commemorations of the International Day of Volunteering, took place in the auditorium of the Museum of Portimão after the round table “Volunteering in Portimão – An act of citizenship”, moderated by journalist Diana Gomez.
The roundtable motivated a reflection on citizenship and social responsibility, with the participation of representatives of some of the local institutions and projects in the area of volunteering, namely Associação Elos de Esperança, Algarve Food Bank, European City Volunteer Project. Sport 2019 and the European Solidarity Corps Project – Dypall Network.
In her intervention, Mayor Isilda Gomes stated that she had subscribed to the proposal for the creation of the Municipal Volunteer Award “as a way to recognize and reward the commitment of citizens and entities, whose work is of relevant social interest and a very visible impact on our community."
The mayor argued that, “in addition to the annual support for associations, there should be a special prize for those who give so much of themselves without asking for anything in return”, because we are a solidary Municipality”.
By the way, he praised “the magnificent role of local associations, in supporting those who are most in need and who live in complete neglect”.
"In this time of solidarity at Christmas, when we are more sensitive to the vulnerabilities of others, I can't fail to thank with great affection those who daily contribute to making this world better", stressed Isilda Gomes, who left the possibility open. the second edition of the award, currently worth 5.000 euros, “has a small increase, as an incentive to the emergence of more applications”.
The “Social Barbershop” project, awarded the Municipal Volunteering Award, should operate on the premises of Cáritas de Portimão and aims to create the conditions for the opening of a barbershop accessible to all those who want to use it, with a view to fostering social integration through change of image, facilitating their integration into the labor market.
The jury of the Municipal Volunteering Award, from among the eight candidacies admitted in the collective category, also decided to award an honorable mention to the project «Sons of Nobody», from Associação Elos de Esperança.
Maria Cabral Teixeira, president of the Associação Elos de Esperança, classified hospital volunteering as “a passion and a vocation, as one has to feel the commitment and responsibility assumed towards those we want to help, whether they are sick or people waiting for a consultation”.
Collaborating every day of the year, between 9:00 am and 21:00 pm, with the Portimão unit of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve, the association he presides over has just over one hundred members, between 39 and 85 years old, between January and November of this year, they did about 21.000 hours of volunteering.
"The aim is to humanize the services and, in addition to meals for the sick, we also have patient care, that is, many people waiting for exams or analysis are idle in that authentic labyrinth and we direct them to the rooms of the queries, for X-ray, everywhere. In addition, we created the 'Sharing Time', in which we offer tea and cookies to all patients, without exception”, explained the person in charge.
“We are like the heart of the hospital. In return, all that is needed is a smile of gratitude that they offer us and the joy they share with us… There is no greater reward!”
On the occasion, the president of the Algarve Food Bank, Nuno Alves, lamented the difficulty in attracting volunteers, defending the importance of attracting more young people.
In his view, “Portugal does not have a culture of volunteering and, if we notice a greater mobilization in the collections we do in May and December, for the rest of the year it becomes very complicated to have volunteers involved in the association's tasks, because people do not want make commitments”.
Even so, the Food Bank campaign held last weekend was "a success in the Algarve region, with ten tonnes more than in the same period in 2018 and about two thousand volunteers, many of whom from institutions involved in the project" , explained Nuno Alves.
With about 60 elements across the region, from 35 to 55 years old, the official argues that the Food Bank “should try to sensitize young people, but also retired people, who currently are very few – after all, this exercise of citizenship only requires a little of good will and putting aside the inertia and the idea that there is always someone who solves the problems for us”.
Giovanni Macaluso, Verónica Vismara and David Cardoso were present on the European Solidarity Corps – Dypall Network, an initiative of the European Union aimed at young people, who work at the Ponto Já store, at the Cruz da Parteira Community Center and at the Dypall Network in Portimão.
The young people gave their testimony about their experiences and the reasons why they embraced volunteering and the projects they have for the future.
Portimão European City of Sport was also a good practice of volunteering in the Municipality, through the creation of a Volunteer Scholarship with 416 subscribers and 191 active participants, aged 16 to 69, who, throughout the year, provided important support.
Present at the debate, Helena Moreira, representative of this group of volunteers, confessed that her objective in participating in this great project was “to help Portimão make history”.
“I felt very happy and proud to know that we had received the award for Best European City of Sport 2019, after a year of healthy, frantic and tiring but very rewarding madness. From my point of view, this is a good addiction that is created, as there will always be time to help others and to participate in projects with a social outreach”, said the volunteer.
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