01
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.
← All collectionsHand-picked collection
Give Back: Algarve Charities and Rescues
- 7 places
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.
02
Why we picked it
The region’s food bank since 2006, collecting and redistributing food to local charities from bases in Faro and Portimão.
03
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.
04
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.
05
Why we picked it
Funding sterilisations and emergency vet care since 1994, with charity shops in Silves and Alvor that keep the work going.
06
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.
07
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.
