Pingo Doce will allocate three million euros to help with the reconstruction of Leiria and Marinha Grande, seriously affected by the Kristin depression, support that will be mobilized through SOS Bairro, the supermarket chain announced this Friday, 13th.
In a statement, the Jerónimo Martins group company explained that SOS Bairro is a “model developed so that local communities themselves can identify the most urgent needs and select the projects that should be financed by Pingo Doce”.
Storm Kristin “left a scenario of unprecedented devastation in the Central region, deeply affecting the daily lives of thousands of families” and “at Pingo Doce we are more than a chain of stores, we are neighbors and an integral part of local life”, says Isabel Ferreira Pinto, general director of Pingo Doce, quoted in a statement.
“For this reason, at a difficult time for our communities, we joined, from the outset, the civil society solidarity movement to provide an urgent response to those who need it most, ensuring basic food and hygiene supplies”, says the executive.
Now, “the time has come to take a new step towards reconstruction” and “with SOS Bairro we want to give the local population the opportunity to identify and select the causes that need more support, ensuring that our help reaches where it is really needed and that it will have an impact on people’s lives and their neighborhood”, says Isabel Ferreira Pinto, quoted in the statement.
The action will take place in the seven Pingo Doce stores in Leiria and Marinha Grande and invites groups of neighbors and local entities to present projects that aim to respond to damages or situations resulting from the impacts caused by the storm in their neighborhood, according to the supermarket chain.
Registration begins on February 16th and can be done on the Pingo Doce website or in stores in Leiria and Marinha Grande.
“Once submitted, the projects will be analyzed by a jury made up of local entities that will select eight finalists per store” and “the five causes with the most votes in each store will be announced on March 28th, each of which can be supported up to a maximum value of 85 thousand euros”, details Pingo Doce.
Meanwhile, “in coordination with the municipalities of Leiria, Marinha Grande, Ourém and Soure, Pingo Doce has already donated more than 200,000 essential products, such as food, hygiene items, products for babies and the elderly and animal feed, ensuring a quick response to the most urgent needs”.
It also ensured the “direct delivery of goods and ready meals to 500 elderly people in situations of loneliness and isolation, under the protocol with the GNR, and to 600 families in vulnerable situations and with travel difficulties, in collaboration with Cáritas de Leiria and Associação Partilha Constante, ensuring immediate food support”.
Sixteen people died in Portugal following the passage of depressions Kristin, Leonardo and Marta, which also caused many hundreds of injuries and displacement.
The sixteenth victim is a 72-year-old man who fell on January 28th while repairing the roof of a relative’s house, in the municipality of Pombal, and who died on February 10th, at the Hospitals da Universidade de Coimbra (HUC).
The total or partial destruction of homes, businesses and equipment, the fall of trees and structures, the closure of roads, schools and transport services, and the cut of energy, water and communications, floods and floods are the main material consequences of the storm.
The Centro, Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and Alentejo regions are the most affected.
The Government extended the calamity situation until the 15th for 68 municipalities and announced support measures of up to R$2.5 billion.
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