The Dutch are much nicer and more helpful than expected. Research by the Oranje Fonds shows that almost everyone takes action when asked for help. One place where people work for each other every day is at the social initiative Assen Bloeit.
The community center in Assen is a meeting place where volunteers have been coming together since 2022 to start projects together. Teams are formed from the interests or ideas of volunteers, who then organize activities.
This created, among other things, the neighborhood restaurant Boca Boca, but also a gift shop full of handmade products and the textile workshop, where people can have fun with fabrics. “The neighborhood place is a place where we want to be there for everyone,” explains Laura Zuidema of Assen Bloeit. “Anyone can come in for a cup of coffee and a chat, but we also want to invite people to join in.”
Doing something together and helping each other is contagious here. Since the start of Assen Bloeit, around 150 volunteers have registered in just a few years.
Today is another busy day in the neighborhood, in the textile workshop women are sitting around a large table. They crochet and knit colorful works. Two of them are Karin van der meer (61) and Astrid van Veelen (81). The women are not only sitting next to each other today, the people of Assen have been neighbors for 17 years and know better than anyone what it means to look after each other.
Having coffee together, cooking for each other when the other is sick or helping each other with small jobs around the house, it is the most normal thing in the world for the women. “If someone is sick, you cook food for them. I think that is very normal,” says the eldest of the couple.
The neighbors look at each other and laugh. Astrid wipes a tear from her cheek. “It’s just very nice that it is possible.” Her neighbor agrees. “There are so many different people and different faiths here and yet we are here together,” says Karin.
For Zuidema, the example of the neighbors is exactly what they do it for. “If people are seen and can participate, they will flourish. That is the most important thing for us.”