The Algarve runs on more goodwill than its postcards let on. The charities below cover the region's quiet essentials: free palliative care at home, food rescued and redistributed in seven towns, emergency support, and hundreds of abandoned dogs and cats fed and rehomed every year. All of them are real, local and stretched. There are four honest ways to help and none of them require money: donate, volunteer time, shop in their charity shops (Madrugada and APAA both run them), or adopt and foster. If you are new to the Algarve, an afternoon volunteering is also one of the fastest ways we know to meet people here.
Algarve charity providing free home-based palliative care since 2009, funded by its Encore and Home Store shops in Praia da Luz, Lagos and Lagoa.
Why we picked it
Free home-based palliative and end-of-life care across the Algarve since 2009, funded by its Encore and Home Store charity shops in Praia da Luz, Lagos and Lagoa.
The Algarve's regional food bank, collecting and redistributing food to local charities since 2006, based in Faro with a branch in Portimao.
Why we picked it
The region’s food bank since 2006, collecting and redistributing food to local charities from bases in Faro and Portimão.
Volunteer-run charity that rescues surplus food and redistributes it to people in need, active in seven Algarve towns.
Why we picked it
100 percent volunteer-run, rescuing surplus food that would otherwise be wasted and getting it to families in need across seven Algarve towns.
Local Faro-Loule branch of the Portuguese Red Cross, running social support, emergency response and a technical aids equipment loan service from Faro.
Why we picked it
The local Faro and Loulé branch of the Portuguese Red Cross: social support, emergency response and an equipment loan service for mobility aids.
Algarve animal charity since 1994, funding sterilisations and emergency vet care, with charity shops in Silves and Alvor.
Why we picked it
Funding sterilisations and emergency vet care since 1994, with charity shops in Silves and Alvor that keep the work going.
Non-profit dog and cat shelter in Lagos since 2008, caring for around 140 animals in partnership with Lagos council.
Why we picked it
A non-profit shelter in Lagos since 2008 caring for around 140 dogs and cats at a time, in formal partnership with the Lagos council.
Volunteer-run dog sanctuary at Goldra, near Loulé, caring for over 70 abandoned dogs, with local and overseas adoption, sponsorship and volunteering.
Why we picked it
More than 120 abandoned dogs and cats sheltered in the hills above Goldra near Loulé, with adoption, fostering and sponsorship to homes here and overseas.
