New facilities for Costa Almeria centre for the disabled

THE doors have opened to the new Virgen del Rio Association for the Disabled facilities in Huercal-Overa.
Mayor Francisca Lourdes Fernandez, along with Social Well-being councillor Maria del Mar Meca, Virgen del Rio president Mariana Jimenez, and FAAM Almeria Disabled Persons Association Federation president Isabel Valdes, did the honours of officially inaugurating the facilities, which have been provided by the local council.
The Mayor highlighted the important work of the association in the municipality since 1982 in assisting the disabled and on “integration and inclusion at all levels.”
Fernandez said the new facilities provided the association with a decent, functional, good sized and central base.
The association president agreed, commenting, “These accessible facilities have sufficient space for the various activities we carry out, and we hope for the physiotherapy programme, pyscho-pedagogy, recycling activities and courses.”
The new centre in located in Calle Juan de Austria in Huercal-Overa town. The 200sqm space includes an administration area and a large multi-uses hall.
First set up 28 years ago, the Virgen del Rio Association for the Disabled began as an initiative set up by a small group of people with a disability, prompted by the demands and problems for this group of society. They believed there was a need to channel these demands through a legal framework, with a platform to defend their interests, so they set up an entity for people in Huercal-Overa and its outlying areas.
The aim was to contribute to integration in all areas, including the workplace, social and cultural, and to improving disabled persons’ quality of life.
Today the association has more than 360 members.