Feeding support

Those with less, give more

First, we should stress that the Algarve Food Bank doesn’t directly give anything to the public. It works in conjunction with around 80 social support institutions in the region – making sure they get what they need. “The ideal situation would be having at least 125 tons more than we have now, so that there wouldn’t be any institutions on the waiting list. Many ask us: “How much longer (do we have to wait)?” and feel discriminated against. We explain that we don’t have enough food – but, ultimately, that doesn’t resolve the problem”, Pimpão tells us.

Hunger in modern society?

In 2007 “no-one could have foreseen how much the problem of lack of food would increase”, the university lecturer considers. “Essentially, it’s a new phenomenon – all to do with the needs of the family eating into their food budget because they have other fixed costs that they can’t avoid”.

This new phenomenon is called “debt”. It hits “people who don’t immediately appear to have financial problems, because they have a house and a car – but they need food” because they can’t afford to buy it.

Adriano Pimpão also points his finger at the banks, which he considers responsible for advertising easy credit and reckless spending. “The other large problem has to do with unemployment. There only needs to be one member of the family out of work for income to diminish” and start the conveyor belt of negative consequences that follow.

And then there’s “everything else” that makes up the current state of affairs in modern Portuguese society – “old people with low pensions” and “people from the rural interior who, although they may own property and land, do not have the money, or the good health, to maintain either.”

Where the food comes from

BAA’s infrastructure is centralised in Faro, in a warehouse measuring 1.000 square metres donated by the local municipality. Its running and management – over a long-term period – involves the work of 30 to 40 volunteers.

The BAA receives foodstuffs all the time via three large supply channels. The first is to do with all the food collection campaigns aimed at the public at large. These take place, on average, twice a year – in May/ June and now, in the run-up to Christmas.

The second source is the large distribution companies (super- and hypermarket chains) that give “excess” foods to the Federation of Portuguese Food Banks Against Hunger. The latter distributes these foods throughout the various regions.

And finally, there are still individuals and small businesses that make donations. Sometimes, the authorities bring in foods that have been apprehended – foods that are still within their “sell by” dates, and therefore fit for human consumption but which are not properly labelled or packaged to be sold legally on the market. And so they find their way into the social support network.

Meantime, the idea of “fighting food wastage” is high up on the agenda of food banks throughout the world. Thus, through all these means of supply, the BAA manages to donate food to various institutions on a weekly or fortnightly basis.

Social support springs from the emptiest pockets. “I would say that the people who turn up most to work at the BAA are those who are retired – and they’re not necessarily from the higher income brackets. Just as those who give the most foods aren’t either,” adds Adriano Pimpão.

Perhaps this explains why statistically the towns of Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António rank as those that have contributed most to previous food collection campaigns.

There are no sociological studies behind this hypothesis – just experience. “I think the people who are most sensitive are those who’re closest to what’s going on - thus they give more”.

Pimpão stresses that the BAA never asks for cash donations. “We only very exceptionally accept cash”, if someone really insists. This kind of donation is always used to buy material or equipment. “For example, at the moment, we need a new fork-lift and some large baskets for storing foodstuffs”.

Help or fraud?

Although poverty and unemployment affect more and more Portuguese and Algarvians, so too does the stigma surrounding those who receive social benefits. It’s only too common to hear people blaming “laziness” and “lack of the desire to work” behind appeals for subsidies and help to survive.

There are even those who consider that people who benefit from help should be obliged to “pay for it” via physical labour in community service.

Without wishing to pass comment on any of the above, Adriano Pimpão says the only concern that exists for the BAA is that the foods they donate don’t return to the market, to be sold illicitly.

But, from all the information he receives, he trusts the institutions that the BAA deals with.

“For the time being, the incidences of fraud are less than 5 per cent – at least this is the opinion of our people on the ground. We discuss with the institutions what goes on – the other side of the promise we assume to society. We have to be responsible for foods arriving at their destination, without any kind of fraud”, he assures.

Regarding the notion that asking for help is shameful, Pimpão is adamant – “I don’t think so!”

In the future, the most immediate challenge is the opening of a new warehouse in Portimão – to ease the logistics of supplying the Barlavento Algarve. But, perhaps the greatest challenge of all – one that affects all society – is that in future the BAA and other food banks will be all the more necessary.