Donations Received!!

As we all recall, on Saturday 20th of February, our Island of Madeira was hit with flash floods killing 42 people with more than 250 injured. These floods unleashed brown torrents of water, caused by strong winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour, and heavy rains.

Two of the most affected areas were the capital, Funchal, and Ribeira Brava, which are both located on the southern portion of the Island, with heavily destroyed homes, roads and bridges. Thousands of people lost everything they own. Of these many had no means to replace their losses as they were not insured for this kind of risk at all.

At this tragic moment, we asked ourselves; how would my life be affected if I lost everything and had no insurance? Without hesitation we offered our help, and with the solidarity of our community, we held several fund raisers and collected donations at many of our local businesses, which after a period of several weeks, we were able to raise approximately 30 thousand Euros, which we would send to Madeira.

The Island of Madeira is a marvelous blend of contrasts. On one hand we have remarkably modern roads, a medical, educational and informational infrastructure. On the other hand, a large proportion of the population that lives in rural Madeira, outside of the capital, is age subsistence farmers with very little economic means. To them the devastation has been total.

Our initial goal was always to ensure the money was distributed to the “proper people”, to make sure “it gets to the people who really need it”. With this in mind, the fundraising committee met and contacted the authorities in Ribeira Brava, one of the most affected areas, as we decided to distribute the money into 20 checks consisting of 1,500 Euros each, and be mailed to Ribeira Brava and be given directly to the 20 most needy families affected by this tragic event, who in turn would sign a proof of receipt document. We are proud to announce that recently these 20 checks have been distributed, and as noted on an article published on DNOTICIAS.PT titled “os donativos continuam a chegar” it was confirmed by Nivalda Gonçalves, president of ADBRAVA – Associação de Desenvolvimento da Ribeira Brava stating: “Entreguei juntamente com o presidente da Câmara Municipal da Ribeira Brava 20 cheques no valor de 1500 euros a outras tantas famílias
prejudicadas pela intempérie. Os 30 mil euros foram disponibilizados através da solidariedade de emigrantes oriundos nos Estados Unidos da América”

On behalf of the people of Ribeira Brava, who received our generous donations, the Clube Sport Uniao Madeirense and its Funraising
Committee members, thanks all who in any way were part of this succesful and caring gesture.

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