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A Glow Worm glowing. A dream to come true.

Says Fernando Pessoa, in a famous verse and often repeated, what God wants, man wishes for and the building waxes.

The motto of our friend Glow worm, this year, again reminds me of this aphorism of our most famous 20th century poet.

To achieve anything really important we must join several stages together.

To God’s will – God wants – we have to ally our own dream, so that the building waxes.

The dream is only worth its while if we push together with all our capabilities to make it come true.

In this May afternoon when we are together once again to launch another Magic Glow Worm campaign, we also celebrate the capability of joining our dream to God’s will and achieve our building – make the dream come true.

I would rather use the plural term – make the dreams come true – because one of the fabulous achievements of the Magic Glow Worm is that it reaches many people in many places.

The history of the Magic Glow Worm is a beautiful history of solidarity. A symbol that has become popular between the very small and very large and, at a time when everything is disposable and doesn’t last, it has already been flying since 1987.

It has come through generations and has kept alive, and calls upon us not to let it fall into the oblivion of youth.

He is a pleasant little fellow, changes his colour and his theme every year, but it is not just this that justifies its longevity.

It has gone deep into the heart of the Portuguese because, starting from a light luminous image, it brings its message to all of us who are responsible to provide help – and now more than ever – to these institutions that care, with professionalism and love, for our citizens that are more fragile and more vulnerable to their day-to-day difficulties. Not only in times of crisis, but at all times.

But obviously more in times of crisis.

The Glow Worm flies from the north to the south of the country. Have you all thought how wonderful it would be if it were able to stop by at the home of all Portuguese families? It only costs 2 euros.

Another happy feature of our friend – this year it is sky blue in colour – is to allow us to collaborate with this so important cause without excessively unbalancing our domestic budget.

Many thousands of people will be involved in this campaign – and this is being repeated every year since 1987.

If it should fly high enough, it could make possible the many needs of the 100 associates of Fenacerci.

The work that is carried out in Portugal with the people who are severally handicapped – intellectually or physically – is outstanding and has greatly improved.

Whenever I visit these institutions – and I have been lucky enough to visit many of them – I feel that we are never sufficiently grateful to those who are driven to these tasks which, however compensatory, are so difficult, for the much that they accomplish so that, as a society, we carry out our duty. The duty is everybody’s; the work is only done by a few.

With the Magic Glow Worm, we have the opportunity to also involve ourselves in this work with a gesture of gratitude by saying to them all:
Thank you very much!

And count on me as well!

Maria Cavaco Silva