José Luís Bacelar Ferreira remembers 25 April 1974 and the tasks assigned to him by the Operational Command of the Armed Forces: occupying the bridge over the Ave in Vila do Conde, guarding the Viana-Porto route and occupying the relay centre of the Portuguese Radio Club in Azurara.
Fifty years on from the day he experienced the emotions of a revolution, the April Captain from Vila Nova de Famalicão still looks back on the Carnation Revolution as an unfulfilled dream.
‘We had an extraordinary revolution. I don't know of a revolution that's been done as well as this one, but there's still so much to do. Fifty years is nothing. We have to realise that 25 April hasn't been completely fulfilled. Democracy is important, we can't live without it, but it has to be perfected and that's in the hands of each and every one of us.’
Bacelar Ferreira, who in 2023 was decorated by the President of the Republic with the Order of Liberty, speaks of the desire to continue to fulfil April, the same desire that 30 years ago led him to found Dar as Mãos, a famalicense association focused on protecting and supporting people in situations of economic need.
‘A true example of altruism, of someone who believes that 25 April didn't just happen on that day in 1974,’ praised the mayor, who this week named Bacelar Ferreira as one of the Faces of Famalicão European Entrepreneurial Region.
Mário Passos also praised the work carried out over the last 30 years by the Dar as Mãos Association, ‘which shows us every day that entrepreneurship, in this case social entrepreneurship, has a transformative power and can have a very positive impact on our society’.
Currently serving more than 70 meals a day, Associação Dar as Mãos ‘is at the forefront of helping those who need it most’, guarantees Bacelar Ferreira, who is optimistic about the future of the association, which has the construction of ‘Casa’ as its major project for the near future.
The project includes the construction of emergency accommodation, with single rooms for 32 adults and transitional accommodation for four households, as well as support and technical areas and spaces for personal growth, education and well-being, aimed at training and vocational training for homeless people, people with disabilities and people in socio-economic need.
It will be built on a 9,000 square metre plot of land in Pelhe, in Calendário, recently given to the association by the local authority, and will result in an investment of around 2.5 million euros.