He has been overloaded with positive responses. The day after it was announced that Giel van Kollenburg from Best had been elected Brabander of the Year, he received messages from acquaintances who had already expected him to win the prize and reactions from acquaintances who had not expected it.
Giel himself has known for two weeks that he won the election. After the recordings he had to keep it quiet for a while until the broadcast on Omroep Brabant TV. “I hid the statue of the winner upstairs. We watched the broadcast yesterday with a large group,” he says, happy that the big word is out. “My grandmother would have loved this, but unfortunately she passed away in July,” says Giel.
He saved the life of 90-year-old Diny in March after she fell into a deep ditch. He was on his way home after football practice when he saw a walker on the side of the road. He still thought: surely no one will be lying in the ditch? Although the cars in front of him continued, Giel decided to stop. “Then, to my horror, I saw Diny lying there. I immediately got out and went into the ditch. Don’t think about it, just do it.”
Giel watched the ceremony with friends and family.
Proud father
His father Herman is very proud of him. “It’s not easy for a 22-year-old to get someone out of the water who might be dead. Plus, she was quite heavy because the water had soaked into her clothes, so it was quite difficult to get her out of the water on his own.” to lift.”
Giel still thinks what he did is normal. “I didn’t expect to win either. I was already surprised with the nomination. But there were a lot of votes within my group of friends and a lot of advertising for me.”
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