Banco Alimentar do Algarve is currently the fourth largest in the country, distributing 3.500 tons of food per year and having reached a “historic maximum” of people supported at the peak of the pandemic, its president told Lusa.
Speaking to Lusa on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Private Institution of Social Support (IPSS), created on March 1, 2007, Nuno Cabrita Alves said that it was the growth and consolidation of the structure that made it possible to support, at the peak of the pandemic, a «historic maximum» of around 30 thousand people.
«Banco Alimentar do Algarve started 15 years ago with an average annual distribution of around 400 tons, today it distributes close to 3.500 tons of food per year only here in the Algarve region, which meant that, being the 12th bank to open in Portugal, today it is the fourth largest bank in the country in a network of 21», he quantified.
Nuno Cabrita Alves acknowledged that the number of people supported has registered «highs and lows» and that, «in a first phase, with the start of the operation, the institutions started to join and this led to an increase in the number of people», then came «the financial crisis» and the «number of people supported also grew» «significantly».
After the crisis, the Algarve Food Bank reached a “very low historical value of people to be supported”, but when “the covid-19 pandemic was declared and the first lockdown [confinement], the Bank, automatically, in the space of a few days, received an exponentially huge number of requests», he countered.
Banco Alimentar do Algarve reached «values never reached» and then went «from the historic low to the historic high, reaching close to 30.000 people» supported, said the official, stressing that this number «has been adjusting downwards» with o easing restrictions imposed to contain the covid-19 pandemic.
If, at first, «sustained growth» and the ability to reach «as many partners as possible» brought «an increase in supply» and allowed «having food in quantity» to provide support to the most needy, currently, the answer has already distinguishes itself “also for its diversity”, he underlined.
«In 2007, we would be talking about a basket with pasta, rice, tuna, sausages, milk and little else, while today we are talking about a basket that, in addition to these products, has fruits, vegetables, cheese, butter, yogurts, fish, meat, bread, that is, there was a clear increase in quantity, but also in the diversity of products to be distributed», exemplified Nuno Cabrita Alves.
When asked about the territorial implementation of the Banco Alimentar do Algarve, Nuno Cabrita Alves replied that, soon "in 2008, institutions would already be supported in all 16 municipalities in the region", but, he clarified, the number of institutions supported varies according to the territory.
«The bulk of the impact on the Bank is in the municipalities of Olhão, Faro and Loulé, by the number of institutions that are supported, which, in some municipalities, amounts to 20 institutions supported. But, on the other hand, we have the peripheral municipalities, as is the case of Castro Marim, Alcoutim, Monchique or Aljezur, or Lagos or Vila do Bispo, where we often only have one institution in each territory», he observed.
Regarding funding, the president of the institution said that part of the support comes from “donations from civil society in general and from companies”, although another part of the funding is “highly supported by the Municipal Councils”.
«We started, and for many years, we had an annual budget in the order of 10 thousand euros. Amazingly, and I'm not mistaken in the number, it's 10 thousand euros. Today, it amounts to close to 300 thousand euros», he indicated.
According to Nuno Cabrita Alves, the gradual growth of the annual budget of the Banco Alimentar do Algarve had a “multiplier effect”, allowing the region’s population to be supported today “with more than four million euros in donations and food”.
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