Banco Alimentar Contra a Fome do Algarve

Banco Alimentar Contra a Fome do Algarve is the region's food bank, established on 31 May 2006 under the name APPIA (Associacao Pro-Partilha e Insercao do Algarve) and formally affiliated to the national Federacao Portuguesa dos Bancos Alimentares Contra a Fome from 1 March 2007. It operates from a 1,444 square metre municipal warehouse in the Urbanizacao de Santo Antonio do Alto in Faro, provided by the Camara Municipal de Faro, with a second branch in Portimao at Urbanizacao Industrial Vale da Arrancada. The food bank collects surplus and donated food from supermarkets, producers and the public, and redistributes it to local charities and social institutions that in turn support people in need. In 2024 it collected 3,114 tonnes of food and supported 130 institutions serving 26,104 people across the Algarve. Day to day operations run on around 20 volunteers and 6 delivery vehicles, coordinating twice-yearly national food collection campaigns at supermarkets across the region alongside its Projeto RIA work on food insecurity. Residents can get involved as one of the food bank's volunteers, drop off non-perishable food donations, or support the twice-yearly supermarket collection campaigns run with the national federation. The Faro office is open weekday mornings and afternoons; the Portimao branch keeps separate, shorter hours.