“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” Mahatma Gandhi
In 2011, Banco Alimentar’s Food Bank campaign collected over 30,000 tonnes of food which was then distributed to the poor and needy – with more than 300,000 people being helped last year – and this year the number is expected to be even greater.
This weekend, the 1st and 2nd December you may well see the familiar blue and white carrier bags being handed out outside supermarkets across Portugal (and other countries in Europe also participate in this scheme)
The idea is simple and effective – you are given a carrier bag as you enter the store and asked to buy products as you shop – fill up the carrier bag and hand it back to the collectors outside as you leave the store – we had some very friendly and lovely scouts outside our local Lidl store and it was a pleasure to support them in this way.
You will see posters placed around the shop to remind you of the particular items which are requested – long life/dried milk; sugar; tinned sausages; tuna; olive oil and oil. Dried long-life goods are required – we added in pasta too.
The Portuguese Federation of Food Banks Against Hunger charity then co-ordinate all the food collected and its distribution. The first food bank in Portugal was established in 1990 – the idea, originally from America, is one of reducing food waste and supporting those in need, so that ‘all may have food’ – a basic right under the Human Rights Act. This is now a worldwide movement and Portugal is affiliated to the European Federation of Food Banks – and with two million people in Portugal being classified as ‘in poverty’ this is a much needed and important charity campaign.
The scheme is also online until the 9th December with a nifty website at Alimentestaideia which shows the total of food items donated online to date:
Many other organisations and charities also join in with fund-raising this weekend – we had great fun this morning joining the Holiday Inn Algarve at Armaçao de Pêra with their first ever ‘Great Father Christmas Charity Walk’ with food items donated en route.
The sight of more than 50 Santas all parading around the centre of town and along the promenade was quite something – and certainly stopped people in their tracks in the local market!
So if you are out and about this weekend and someone hands you a blue and white carrier bag – please donate something – every little certainly helps!
If you have enjoyed this post you might also enjoy The 12 Days of Christmas Portuguese Style
Algarve Blog 
Great to hear about this fabulous program. I really like the idea of the bags too as it reminds people to help. Is it only once a year?
no I think they ran it in the Spring too… it’s held all over Portugal on the same weekend though which is pretty amazing!
Yes that is wonderful. Great that people give back to help others. 🙂
I think this needs to happen more and more – and in times of austerity it is even more heartening
This is a wonderful program. I plan to share about something similar that recently came to my attention in my own town, and it’s heartwarming to find that others do care and give us opportunities to share what we have those who are in need. I do love the Gandhi quote…I’d not heard that before!
it’s so great that this is now a world-wide initiative – it is happening in the UK this weekend at Tesco too – but I had never heard of it before we came to Portugal.
glad you like the quote too – I usually add a quote somewhere in my posts – this one is such a profound truth
Such a great idea this program 🙂
yes that’s what we thought too! We were here earlier in the year but had no idea what the bags were for and didn’t participate – this time we made sure we knew!
It is great to hear, fantastic idea. Also it is funny to see Santas and Palmtrees, so unusual for me, we always have snow and gloves. 🙂
yes it’s strange isn’t it! nice though! 🙂
What a cracking idea and great to see the volunteers having so much fun in aid of a good cause
it was fun! got some applause as we all walked round!
What a great program! So glad it did well.
it will be interesting to see how much was collected overall this weekend
It is a great idea and we always supported it when we lived there. Also lovely the Santas collecting as well.
They were quite a spectacle! It was good to be involved in something worthwhile out here
“The Banco Alimentar collected in Portugal, in the past week-end, 2,914 tons of foodstuffs in 1668 supermarkets. Thanks to the more than 38,500 volunteers that helped fuel this idea.” http://www.facebook.com/#!/bancoalimentar
thank you so much for visiting the blog and commenting on my post – it’s fantastic to know the actual figures from the weekend – and what amazing volunteers and helpers this has! thinking of all the people and families this will help ….
What a great program!
yes we thought so too – nice and simple too (at the shopping end anyway – I’m sure the distribution takes some work!)
These Santas are all so thin! It must be the Mediterranean diet.
ha ha! yes you are quite right! maybe the thought of a walk put some people off – you can see them all doing stretching exercises too – obviously being Santa these days is a difficult job! All those roofs to climb over I guess you have to be pretty fit 😉
Great that you got involved in this. I hope the idea continues to spread.
it appears to be quite a worldwide thing!
These are the kind of Santas we have here in the U.S. I ‘m not so sure ours could stretch like that! What an inspiring post. Marsha 🙂
thank you – not sure all of the Santa’s realised there was an exercise element to the walk though!
haha. It doesn’t look like it hurt them!! What a fun post. When do we ever see SO many Santas in one place?
yes we had fun deciding what the plural was of Father Christmas – In English we would say ‘Father Christmasses’ (one Father – lots of Chrismasses – sounds good to me – more pressies!!) but in Portuguese you would say ‘Pais de Natal’ (lots of Fathers and only one Christmas!) ….
It’s often much easier in other languages!!! 🙂
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That’s a terrific, and well organised, initiative, and rather more worthwhile than piles of Chinese toys. I loved seeing your Santa walk series too, especially Santas in a Ring, Doing their Warm Up!
yes they were quite specific on which food items were required – I thought tinned sausages was a bit strange though!
I suppose the kids like them?
probably! easy to cook too – you don’t need an oven which might be why?
Of course, you can cook them in the can, over a fire, can’t you?
A small video about the food bank http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89nw78kjFUI&feature=share (portuguese only).
thank you so much!
Hi there! Very nice photos. So very enjoyable. Happy New Year
thank you – and to you too!