The Beatles famously sang “Money Can’t Buy Me Love” - but it CAN buy vital equipment for the Bombeiros.
And west coast community association AMOVATE enlisted the aid of The Bottles, the Algarve’s Beatles tribute band, to help raise just over €3,000 for the fire fighters of Aljezur.
It was anything but “A Hard Day’s Night” as more than 200 people - local residents and Day Trippers - twisted, shouted and danced through the evening, hosted by the Restaurante Fonte do Vale, which also donated €500 to the final total.

ACCA’s fun-raising raffle at the Dunas Douradas Beach Club on Saturday resulted in sufficient funds to buy young Marley his much-needed oxygen unit

Thanks to the generosity of the many sponsors who put up prizes to be raffled, and the overwhelming response from visitors there to watch the Royal Wedding on the big screens, children’s charity ACCA, which looks after deprived youngsters across the Algarve, raised almost €2,000 on Saturday.

The 9th Annual Charity Bike Ride on 5 May brought in a whopping €7,200 for ACCA, the charity that makes a difference to the lives of under-privileged children across the Algarve.

Sixty riders, from lively youngsters to energetic seniors, took part, meeting the challenge of cycling distances from a gentle 10kms to a demanding 75km from the hotel.

The horror that has engulfed the Sanctuary for the past few weeks has taken its toll in many ways. Currently, only two of the pups affected by the outbreak of Hepatitis C have survived (see below). There is, as you can well imagine, and air of sadness, not to say devastation, permeating the place, with the puppy pens empty. The more immediate issue, as I predicted last time, is that of the cost of the epidemic. The total vet bill for treating the dogs and pups affected is around €8000.

If the last intro piece was gloomy, I´m afraid it doesn´t get much better. There is some good news, but sadly not at the Sanctuary itself. The mystery illness which has been affecting a number of the dogs, and especially the current spate of puppies, has been identified as Hepatitis C. Since the last newsletter, four pups have died and others are still very ill, with four more at the vet. The older dog, Mavis, which had just returned from the vet on my last visit, has also been put to sleep. Click HERE to read more.

The OPERATION SHOCK campaign reached its goal this week, when the final four portable defibrillators were presented to the commanders of the Bombeiros Stations at Vila do Bispo, Monchique, Loulé and Vila Real de Santo António.

afpop’s CEO Michael Reeve and the association's president, Chris Ireland, presented the brand new equipment to the commanders at a short ceremony at the Portimão Bombeiros station, bringing an end to an ambitious campaign that has seen a portable defibrillator donated to  each of the seventeen Bombeiros Commands in the Algarve region.

The show was held Restaurant Vale Da Telha and Hugos Bar at the Pines Roundabout and was hosted by Friends of AEZA to raise funds for the dog and cat shelter in Aljezur. The show organiser Lynda said there are usually around 40-60 dogs and cats in the shelter with another 30-40 in foster care, all the dogs get walked three times a week by volunteers, The shelter also goes into local schools to educate the local children in animal care. A total of 56 dogs were entered into the various classes and the day began with an obedience and agility demonstration with the dogs and members from the Algarve Dog Training Club.

It has been a wretched couple of weeks at Goldra. Last time I reported that one of the rescues from the hellhole has been put to sleep. Two more dogs lost their fight for life in that same week. Java, another of the rescues, and Bramble, an earlier resident, both died of heartworm infection. These events are very disheartening to those closest to the action, and Jan recorded cleaning out in tears last week. But that is only half the story. Please CLICK HERE to read the Goldra latest news. 
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