CHARITIES from across the Algarve were invited to submit applications to become The Resident’s Charity of the Year to help celebrate our 18th birthday on November 9. A panel of judges went through the applications and out of many deserving causes, the Alvor children’s home, Lar da Crianças Bom Samaritano, was nominated. A series of fundraising events will be held throughout this year to raise as much money as possible for this worthy charity. Until the end of the year, The Resident will be featuring the other applicants, so that our readers are aware of who is doing what for the community and hopefully offer their support.
THE SANCTUARY director for the Bamboo Shelter for Abandoned and Ill Treated Animals, Nana van der Velden, is a truly remarkable woman.
She set up Bamboo and named it after her dog. She says: “We want the sanctuary to be like bamboo, hollow at the top to allow new ideas in, flexible in the storms of life, bending but never breaking”.
The aim of Bamboo is to provide opportunities for people to volunteer, to educate people in respecting animals and to collaborate with other shelters to work together to help as many animals as possible.
In the future Bamboo wishes to try to collaborate with local schools to teach them to care for animals so the children don’t become tomorrow’s abandoners. But, like many other charities Bamboo is going through hard times, with the government no longer providing a grant for the donkeys and storms from the winter destroyed two of Bamboo’s dog shelters. They are running short of money.
The shelter is trying to play a serious role in keeping the donkey from extinction and it would like to create a structured breeding programme but everything costs money, money that Bamboo just does not have.
If you would like to donate, please visit their website www.associacao-bamboo.com or contact Nana directly on 282 788 345.
