You can always do something
Everyone can help someone else
By Klaske Delhij | The Tiep factory
Name: Astrid van der Steen. Lives in: Oosterhout. Age: 38. Occupation: advisor local partners at NLvoorelkaar. Volunteering: diverse.
"I'm just looking at how I can combine volunteer work. If I'm going to collect in the neighborhood, I just take my children with me. They also learn from that."
"People sometimes ask me: where do you find the time for volunteering? But I just like to do something for someone else. I work at NLvoorelkaar, a social enterprise that uses online marketplaces to provide supply and demand from volunteers. In addition to my work, I also take on volunteer jobs."
,,Every week I receive an e-mail about which help questions there are and then I see if I can combine that with my work and family. My husband has to slow me down sometimes."
Busy
“I have a family with three children and work four days a week. Sometimes I go door-to-door with my children to collect or distribute flyers for a good cause. Last year we also helped the Happy Hippo Foundation with making birthday packages for children who are not so well off at home. My children like to tinker and that's how they learn that you can also do something for someone else."
,,I also helped the Hoom Foundation when a regular volunteer was unable to. Hoom offers support to informal carers. For example, I would take someone to the hospital or go shopping with someone. I also played rummikub one evening with an elderly lady who has Alzheimer's."
,,It was a lot of fun, but I think I explained who I was 23 times that evening. It was a real eye-opener for me, because her husband sees that every day of course."
,,On the website Oosterhoutvoorelkaar I also saw a call from a Syrian boy who was looking for a language buddy. He wanted to practice Dutch more often. We made an appointment at my house, my husband was there too. It was very pleasant. Now I meet with him a few times a month. Sometimes he eats with our family or he goes to the playground with our children. They also find it very pleasant. They learn things from him about cultural differences.”
“It just makes me happy to help someone. People sometimes think that you have to have a lot of time or be able to do something for volunteering, but that is not the case at all. I recently spoke to a woman who was paralyzed up to her neck. She said, 'I can talk, so I can also help someone by listening.' So it is. You can always do something."
oosterhoutvoorelkaar.nl
Food bank about the action
Food bank about the action You can already register for the 2017 promotion! This year again a great experience with Oosterhout for Each Other. This year, the Oosterhout Food Bank (Goods Bank de Baronie) organized a shopping promotion for the 12th time. The purpose of this is twofold. First, that people are aware that there is still quiet poverty close to home. And secondly, that this will make extra nutrition available to hand out to our clients, so that we can give an extra helping hand. We hereby ask the managers of supermarkets in Oosterhout, Dongen, 's-Gravenmoer and Raamsdonksveer to cooperate. In those stores, customers of the store are asked if they want to do an extra errand and hand it over to the volunteers who are there on behalf of the Food Bank after the checkout. This year 13 supermarkets participated and the promotion lasts 3 days. Always at the end of January. For those 13 supermarkets we then need 2 volunteers for every part of the day (4 hours). This means that you need 3 x 2 = 6 volunteers per day per supermarket. There are 3 days to fill so that is 3 x 6 = 18 per supermarket. Since we are talking about 13 supermarkets, you will need 18 x 13 = 204 volunteers. The Food Bank has a permanent group of 25 people who make their services available here all year round and these are also desperately needed at the main location on the Kanaalstraat where all the banana boxes full from the supermarkets will arrive. We will therefore have to recruit those 204 volunteers from Oosterhout and the surrounding area. That's a huge job. A long run to make clear what this story is about. For several years we have made a SUPER find. Oosterhout voor Elkaar supports us more than 100% in this quest. The Oosterhout team for each other is the driving factor for us here. We approached many people from Oosterhout's "card box" for each other with the question whether they wanted to fill in a part of the day for us. We have found several people willing to do this. Some from last year, but also new people who were so enthusiastic afterwards that they already indicated that they would like to participate again next year. We were of course very happy with that and it is always about people with a warm heart. Because who wouldn't want to do something for someone in need? Because we had a "super match" for each other via Oosterhout, there was even a considerable amount in the Stem. Which was good for the Food Bank to get even more volunteers. You don't just pull a glance of 204 people. Partly because of Oosterhout voor Elkaar, this action has once again become a great success. And we are very happy to continue to use this entrance and the services of Oosterhoutvoorelkaar, who think along wonderfully about how we can improve the request for help even more. For more info about the Food Bank: www.stillearmoede.org Would you like to register for this year 2017? This can be done by sending us a message. Click here to view the vacancy. Ine van den Einde (co-coordinator of shopping campaign Food Bank Oosterhout eo) Share these stories and inspire others to help too! Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Whatsapp Forward
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