For those that think the crisis is over, think again as the staggering level of dependency on food aid charity in the Algarve is laid bare by a report from Food Bank Against Hunger.
Between 22,000 and 25,000 people are in need of food aid in the Algarve, according to the latest estimate by Nuno Alves, the head of the Food Bank in the Algarve region, which already supports 16,000 poor people through 70 institutions.
In the last two years there has been an increase of 2,000 people receiving essential food support from the Food Bank, although the number of institutions covered has remained in the 70, added Alves.
Dried products such as milk, flour, rice and oil are those that the Food Bank has difficulty in collecting and supplying because stock comes in from two annual appeals and there is never enough to last.
The organisation now is able to take in and distribute fresh produce, especially fruit, and recently began distributing bread and fish.
This year the Food Bank is to start carrying vegetables and meat using the brand new €42,000 chilled truck donated by the Rotary Club Estoi Palace International in August 2013.
Data from the latest campaign by the Food Bank Algarve indicates that about 158 tons of food was collected from 133 supermarkets, thanks to the help of about 2,700 volunteers.
According to Nuno Alves, one of the goals for 2014 is to doubling the tonnage that the Food Bank handles in the Algarve, the demand is certainly there as more families are unable to cope with high unemployment levels, spiralling costs of essentials such as electricity and water, and a social support system that enable tens of thousands of Portugal's less adept citizens to fall through the net.
