Thunder Club Helping Charity

As Christmas approached I decided, after a conversation with Annamarie, one of my new volunteers, to try something new.

In the past, Sue Butler Cole who organises the shoebox campaign for Castelo de Sonhos, has always been very kind to us, giving shoebox gifts for our elderly people. I then, in previous years, bought a small token gift for the other adults and of course Santa provided for the children.

This year I put a post on Facebook asking if anyone was interested in making personalised gifts for the people over the age of 15 years, that we are currently helping. Annamarie’s idea was so simple and obvious once she started talking about how difficult it is to know what the put in the shoebox gifts.

All I had to do was write a list of first names, added their ages, male / female and one or two short sentences about them such as if they have children.

I needed 42 gifts in all and little by little people came forward offering to make one or more. Then I was contacted by Mark Cathersides who offered to arrange the making of the last 21 presents.

Mark runs the Thunder Club Algarve Football Academy. He suggested getting the families who attend his club to get involved. I’d not heard of the Thunder Club and when he told his story I was fascinated. They teach football, netball & hockey as ‘games for fun and enjoyment’ and the club has over 200 girls & boys on their register. They do not charge the children a fee and yet somehow provide the kits and equipment and pay for the use of the pitches. This is all done by seeking sponsorship. If you know of anyone who might be interested in sponsoring the Thunder Club I’m sure they would be interested to hear from you.

Thank you to everyone involved in making these gifts. Despite the rain on the 19th December when we handed them out. There were a lot of happy faces, hugs & thanks.