The “Enteric Nutrition” project, presented by Cáritas Parish Nossa Senhora da Conceição – Matriz de Portimão, in the collective category, and the “D'Ar_te” project, proposed by Vanessa Cândido Guimarães, in the singular category, won the second edition of the Municipal Award of Volunteering of Portimão. The winners were revealed this Saturday, December 5th, International Volunteer Day.
Among the ten candidates admitted to the competition, the jury also decided to award an honorable mention in the collective category, to the project “As Lavadeiras de Portimão”, presented by MAPS.
The Municipal Volunteering Award was created in December 2018 by the Portimão Council «with the objective of distinguishing projects in the areas of solidarity, health, environment, social economy, education and training, which promote the improvement of the quality of life of children, young people , the elderly, citizens with disabilities or other people in a vulnerable situation».
The winning projects will receive a monetary prize worth 6.500 euros each and will be distinguished at a ceremony scheduled for this Monday, December 7th, at 18 pm, in the main hall of Paços do Concelho.
This moment will mark the beginning of the commemorations of the 96th anniversary of the elevation of Portimão to a city, which this year, due to the pandemic,
will have a schedule exclusively online.
The winning projects
With the project "Enteral Nutrition”, Cáritas intends to support people in need of artificial nutrition due to oral loss, requiring commercial formulas for enteral nutrition. The objective is to purchase industrial diet formula products with standardized complete composition, hyperenergetic or hyperprotein, supplemental diet formulas and diet consistency modification products, in order to support families who have limited financial resources and who are unable to purchase this diet in a more accessible way.
The project will be worked on in conjunction with the Gastroenterology Service of the University Hospital Center of the Algarve – Portimão Unit, which will detect patients in this situation and refer them to Cáritas, which will act as a facilitator/mediator in this process.
The singular prize, destined for the project “Give it to you”, by Vanessa Cândido Guimarães, involves theater, dance, music, voice, body expression and communication, aiming to promote a more fun, stimulating and challenging teaching. To this end, ideas will be collected and solutions will be found with the youngest, in order to encourage them to contribute to a more active world in the field of solidarity, while at the same time instilling in them the civic duty.
The Câmara de Portimão emphasizes that «all initiatives will be completed with work in reporting, photography and video, with participants being taught how to use social networks in a beneficial way, creating fun and motivational challenges».
In its first edition, in 2019, the Municipal Volunteer Award was awarded to the Social Barbearia project, an idea of the young barber from Portimão, Bruno Santos, cherished by Cáritas da Matriz de Portimão, «whose main objective is to promote the social integration of the less fortunate through the change of look, facilitating their integration in the labor market, thinking in particular of people with needs and the homeless».
Open since 15th September, the barbershop has already served, at no cost, 31 users from 10 to 75 years old, and all users must be registered with Cáritas or another non-profit institution of the Social Emergency Network of Portimão.
Municipality prepares volunteer platform
A Portimão Volunteering platform is in the final stage of development by the Municipality, which aims to systematize information on the supply and demand for volunteering, through the registration of entities promoting volunteering and volunteers and the submission of volunteer projects.
The Portimão Volunteering platform, which will soon be available on the municipality's official website, is intended for all individuals interested in being volunteers and for local entities promoting previously accredited volunteer actions, which will also start, through this platform, to give to get to know not only their mission, but also the different volunteer projects they have in progress and that need volunteers.
The creation of this platform, through the registration of volunteers and volunteer actions, facilitates contact and promotes the participation and visibility of volunteer work and allows for the value of qualified, responsible and dynamic volunteering.
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