There are some things people know Madeira Friends for immediately: the banana tree logo, the black and white branding, the loud music on a Saturday morning, the burpees that somehow became part of so many people’s routines, the pool parties, the events, the workshops, the messages, the introductions, the energy.
On the island, Madeira Friends has become one of the most recognizable communities, and with that comes a constant stream of people reaching out: “I heard you’re the person who can help me find accommodation,” “Hey, I hope you are well. Do you know someone who... ?” or simply, “I would like to join the WhatsApp group.”
From the outside, it can look exciting, social, even glamorous at times. But the truth is that Madeira Friends was never built on glamour. It was built on care, consistency, and an enormous amount of unseen work.
If someone asked what a normal day looks like at Madeira Friends, we would almost laugh. There is no normal day. There is no real schedule. In almost six years, one thing has remained true: the day never goes as planned. There is always someone to answer, something to solve, somewhere to be, something to improve, someone who needs help, and some new idea forming in the background. There are no real days off. Bank holidays are often work days if needed. Even holidays do not fully feel like holidays, because our minds are constantly on the same question: how can we make the community stronger, and how can we make the island better?
And maybe that is the clearest way to explain what Madeira Friends really is. It is not just events. It is not just workouts. It is not just a WhatsApp group or a hub or a fun social calendar. It is a living ecosystem built around one simple but powerful idea: that no one should have to feel alone while starting over in Madeira.
For both founders, that feeling is deeply personal. They know what it means to be an expat, to arrive somewhere new, to feel disconnected, and to carry the quiet weight of having to rebuild a life from scratch. For Marelin especially, moving to Madeira without ever having set foot on the island and without knowing the language was one of the biggest culture shocks of her life. It took her years to settle, years to truly feel grounded.
Somewhere in that experience lived the seed of Madeira Friends: the idea that maybe this process could be gentler for someone else. Maybe no one should have to go through that same loneliness if something could be built to catch them.
And so Madeira Friends began. What started with burpees became something much bigger than exercise. The workouts were never just workouts. They were a meeting point, a doorway, a reason to leave the house, a place where strangers became familiar faces and familiar faces became friends.
Over time, that grew into a wider community, one that created spaces not only for fitness, but for belonging, collaboration, support, volunteering, giving back, and genuine human connection.
The impact of that is not abstract. Over the years, Madeira Friends has helped people find friendships, relationships, clients, homes, collaborators, purpose, and joy. It has given people structure when they had none, laughter when they needed it most, and comfort in moments when being far from home felt heavier than expected. It has also created a bridge between internationals and locals, and that matters deeply.
Madeira Friends has never only been about helping foreigners feel welcome. It has also been about contributing meaningfully to the island itself, through volunteering, environmental actions, animal support, donation initiatives, community partnerships, and local collaboration. That is why the gratitude often heard from institutions is not really for the team alone. It is for what the community, together, has made possible.
But behind all of this is a harder truth.
For a long time, Madeira Friends was sustained through pure belief and sacrifice. The founders were effectively working full-time jobs while also working full-time for the community on a voluntary basis. That kind of model may sound noble, but it is not sustainable forever.
In 2023, two people from the community saw that clearly and said something that changed everything: “The community should be paying you.” At first, the response was disbelief. No, that sounded crazy. But after months of reflection and trust, the supporter model was born. It was never about getting rich. It was about survival. It was about creating enough stability for the work to continue and for Madeira Friends to have a future.
That support changed lives internally too. In 2024, Marelin was finally able to leave her other job and work full-time for the community. Even now, that still feels surreal. It only happened because people believed in the mission enough to support it financially.
And yet today, Madeira Friends is again facing a difficult reality. It is still not financially sustainable. The organization costs around €10,000 per month to operate and is running at a loss of around €2,500 monthly. Until now, that gap has been carried by founder sacrifice, supporter trust, and investor help, but that support will not last forever. And so the difficult question has to be asked: what happens if Madeira Friends can no longer continue?
What would Madeira look like without it? Without the workouts. Without the weekly events. Without the hub. Without the volunteers showing up. Without the messages answered. Without the giving-back actions. Without the bridge between people who arrived and the island they are trying to call home. Without the consistency of a team that has kept showing up, again and again, even when tired, even when uncertain, even when the future felt blurry.
This is where it becomes important to break a misunderstanding. Supporting Madeira Friends is not about paying for parties or paying for access to some fun social lifestyle. It is about supporting the invisible architecture of connection. It is about making sure there is still someone to answer when a newcomer feels lost. It is about making sure there is still a team thinking every week about how to bring people together, how to serve the island, how to make good things happen, and how to keep building something that many now rely on more than they even realize.
If you have ever made a friend through Madeira Friends, found love through the community, discovered a new opportunity, laughed on a difficult day, felt less alone, or simply felt that Madeira became softer, warmer, and more human because this community exists, then you have already felt its value. The question now is whether that value is enough to protect it.
Because if one day the plug has to be pulled, the loss will not only be events removed from a calendar. The loss will be something much harder to replace. It will be momentum, trust, belonging, and a support system that has quietly shaped thousands of lives.
And still, through all of this uncertainty, there is gratitude. Gratitude for the team who have stayed on this wild journey. Gratitude for the supporters who believed early. Gratitude for the people who gave advice, listened, guided, and helped carry the emotional and financial weight of building something meaningful. Gratitude even for the people who may never fully understand what it takes, but who still shared a moment, a laugh, or a memory with Madeira Friends somewhere along the way.
If this story has proved anything, it is that one idea can change lives. One outdoor workout on 13 December 2020 became something no one could have fully predicted. A real community. A trusted name. A place where people found home in each other. If that is not worth fighting for, what is?
The future may be unclear, but one thing is certain: Madeira Friends was never built on convenience. It was built on heart, on resilience, and on the radical decision to keep showing up for people. And if one day it does end, we hope its story inspires others, wherever they are in the world, to do good anyway. To care anyway. To build anyway. Because sometimes all it takes is one slightly crazy idea to change someone’s life.
And if Madeira Friends has changed yours, maybe now is the moment to help change its future.
Support Madeira Friends❤️
If Madeira Friends has ever made your life in Madeira feel lighter, warmer, easier, or more connected, this is the moment to stand behind it. Your support helps us continue building community, creating impact, and serving both the people and the island we care so deeply about.
Madeira Friends: Chronology Over the Years
2021
-Madeira Friends, then known as Madeira Fitness Friends, raised over €2,000 in one month for the non-profit animal association Ajuda a Alimentar a Cães, surpassing the original €1,000 goal in the first week, at a time when the community was still very small.
-Community members volunteered to walk shelter dogs.
-The community built a shelter for a blind dog.
-A dog in severe condition was rescued by a member, who also covered its treatment costs, and the dog was later adopted.
-On Christmas Day, Madeira Friends hosted the first No_Mad Alone event at Pestana CR7 for 100+ nomads and foreigners to spend Christmas together.
-The community collected toys for Acreditar and Fundação Zino, delivering large donations to both associations.
2022
-Madeira Friends raised over €1,000 for Ukrainian refugees, surpassing the goal in the first week.
-Madeira Friends participated in the Innovation and Future Conference, gathering around 100 participants from business and academia.
-Madeira Friends organized the first social responsibility hackathon in Madeira.
-At Christmas, the community collected 100+ books for children, teenagers, and the elderly.
-The campaign included 4 handmade football Christmas trees placed across Funchal and Ponta do Sol.
2023
-Madeira Friends helped find over 170 rental properties for the community.
-The second hackathon gathered around 20 participants, leading to outputs including an AI chatbot and the first framework of the Madeira Friends app.
-Madeira Friends offered a free catamaran trip for 100+ people and families connected to Acreditar.
-The community visited the Municipal Kennel of Funchal, bringing food, blankets, walking dogs, and helping clean the space.
-Madeira Friends launched a school pilot project, teaching around 20 high-school students basic HTML and CSS.
2024
-Madeira Friends hosted 400+ events and welcomed 11,000+ participants.
-The organization onboarded 2,400 new members and helped 145+ people find accommodation.
-Madeira Friends delivered 50+ volunteering events, including 10+ beach and ocean cleanups.
-The wildfire fundraising initiative raised over €17,000 and supported the planting of 500+ trees.
-The broader reforestation work reached around 550 trees planted.
-Madeira Friends co-organized the Madeira Web Summit and delivered 2 school speaking engagements.
2025
-Madeira Friends hosted 813 public community events and welcomed 12,706 participants across Madeira.
-The MF Hub hosted 132 events, becoming a central base for the community.
-Madeira Friends delivered 125 giving-back events in one year.
-The program included 382 wellbeing events, 150 social events, 117 Tech & Biz events, and 22 education events.
-Within giving-back, Madeira Friends ran 85 people-focused initiatives, 25 environmental initiatives, and 15 animal-related initiatives.