Hello again Geoff and all you healthy ramblers. A lot has hapopened over the summer for us and finally we are a legally, registered charity! We have joined with 4 other small charities under the banner of Associação Guarda-chuva (umbrella in English) and we now have a bank account at Credito Agricola, IBAN: PT50 0045 7011 4031 6715 4683 8. (If you wish to donate to the charity please make it clear that your donation is meant for Support for Families.) We have done a lot with the money you have very kindly donated so far. Apart from further help with dental work, you may have seen on our Facebook page a large quantity of shoes that we've bought recently too. With help from the ACCA Association everyone of the 42 needy children we are currently helping are receiving school back-packs with all the equipment they will need, but with your help we are also now able to supply shoes for school children and clothes where needed. Last year, many only had the flip-flops they'd been wearing in the summer break and the parents had no money to buy new shoes. Lots of small items have been bought to enable Mike to repair items that have been donated to us, including a quantity of Portuguese plugs for 17 old laptops. Using parts from a few beyond repair, he has managed to bring 14 of them back to life. They have been loaded with Portuguese versions of Word, Powerpoint, Excel etc..and are being given out to the older Portuguese students who have struggled at school and have been missing out on this vital part of their education. Thank you everbody who has supported us in the past and those of you who continue to support us, enabling us to help more and more needy families and individuals here in the Algarve.

To the many brilliant supporters of our small charity "Support for Families in the Algarve" We are celebrating the launch of our new umbrella charity Associação Guarda-Chuva (of which Support for families and 4 other small charities are part of) on Saturday 5th Oct. at Primavera Restaurant, Tunes. We are having a grand auction, Tombola, a small crafts and business fayre, live music, food and drink and more,) Come and support us if you can, it would be great to see you. These are the Sat Nav details for those who like to have them 37.176529 N 8.267622 W