For the overwhelming majority of parents, one of the biggest fears is surviving their children. But for those who have children with disabilities, the dilemma they face is the opposite: dying and leaving their children helpless, with no one to take care of them. It is with these parents in mind, but not only, that Associação Algarvia will build a Residential Home in Faro.
The foundation stone of the Residential Home and Occupational Activities Center of the Algarve Association of Parents and Friends of Mentally Decreased Children (AAPACDM) was laid last week and the idea is that this new social response will be ready by the end of 2023.
Its construction will allow the Algarve institution, better known as Associação Algarvia, to leave its current premises, located in old buildings on Rua Compromisso, in downtown Lisbon. Faro, where it has been since the late 60s.
With this investment of around 3,16 million euros, it will be possible to «fulfill an old dream» of the parents, of those who work daily with the children and young people supported by the institution and of the many who support this cause.
«Let's see if we can put everything together in the same space, on this land that was given to us by the Chamber. We have more than 2 thousand square meters of construction here, where we intend to concentrate all the answers that are disseminated in Rua do Compromisso and, if possible, that of the CAO of Santa Bárbara de Nexe», he revealed to the Sul Informação Jorge Leitão, president of the board of AAPACDM.
The idea is to «bring together the different valences here», namely the school and the vocational training component that already exist and operate in the current facilities, but also a Residential Home, a new social response that will allow the creation of 30 new places for reception.
The vacancies in the Occupational Activities Center will also increase by 32 and 36 new jobs will be created when the work is completed.
At the ceremony for laying the first stone of the new building, during which a time capsule was buried at the site, Eliane Cruz, former president of the board of the Algarve Association, who launched the process that culminated in the launch of this work.
«I started working at AAPACDM in 1991, as a doctor. Later, I was president for 11 years. The creation of this home is an old dream, especially for parents and their children who are supported by the association. These are the only parents who are afraid of dying before their children, because of fear of abandonment and concern for the future”, she illustrated.
But the new building will also allow the association to have better conditions to fulfill another of its missions: to prepare these young people for life.
«The aim is for all of them to be able to be autonomous in terms of their ability to work, to find them a place to work. This is a place where users enter children and have no time to leave. We have 50-year-old “kids” here», illustrated Jorge Leitão.
For the president of Associação Algarvia, it is now necessary to «work well, wind up your shoes and be careful», since «the rules of European funding are very strict and the punishment for non-compliance is cuts in funding».
“We will get to work immediately, because we have to finish the work before the end of December 2023”, he said.
Jorge Leitão trusts that the chosen contractor will help. «We were very lucky to be Rolear On here to win the contest, because it is a company here of Faro and who knows us well," he said.
The work of the future Residential Home and Occupational Activities Center of the Algarve Association will be funded in 60% by the CRESC Algarve2020 Operational Program. The remaining amount will be guaranteed by the Chamber of Faro, which «will support with around one million euros», and for the «provision of two buildings that the association has in Rua do Compromisso, one of which is a palatial house».
Photos: Hugo Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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