Do you often cook too much or do you have leftovers? With that in mind, Karin van der Zwaan started the Facebook group “Don’t go to bed without eating.” They are now a few weeks further, with about 500 members, and plenty of portions of fresh spinach with salmon, curry soup and chicken piri piri are already being shared.
“In this day and age there is a lot of poverty and who knows, we can help each other in this way,” says group manager Karin. The online group is intended for the Hoorn, Blokker and Zwaag area. People can offer a meal themselves, but also other foodstuffs. “In an accessible way. I’m not a foundation and I don’t have to look into someone’s wallet, people can arrange it themselves.”
And where it started slowly in the beginning, food is now increasingly being offered. “I often cook a lot, sometimes for my father or daughters. Now I had made 6.5 liters of chili con care,” says Mascha Stricker from the Grote Waal. “And I thought: you know what, I’ll post it in the group. Within half an hour someone responded via Messenger, a lady from the Kersenboogerd.”
‘I always cook too much’
Mascha: “I thought, I’ll sign up, just see what you can do. Then I immediately made a friends list of people who I know often cook too much.” Worth repeating? “If I have left over, why not? Only I would like it if it ends up well, and not someone who makes it out of convenience to not have to cook. But of course you don’t know that in advance. I’ll be sure to post it.”
Maureen van Gennep from Hoorn has already collected a meal several times. “I am on welfare and have nothing left. I am very grateful that this group is here.” She also eats every Thursday evening at Hart voor Hoorn on the Vredehofstraat. The past few years have been a succession of bad luck for her. She is tied to her mobility scooter, has to turn every dime three times and in summer 2020 she came to stand on the street after her home was destroyed by a fire.
Satisfying
Maureen: “I picked up a meal once, and that was half an hour with the scooter mobile. That was just too far: I arrived like an ice cube.” In the meantime, she has picked up a meal from someone’s home five times in the past few weeks. Even a meal was brought. “So sweet of that lady. A pasta meal, where I even got a crème brûlée for dessert. When I asked how the plate came back, she replied that I could keep it.”
Maureen is happy that the group is there. She is one of the few who openly responds in the group. “I don’t really care. I’m not ashamed that I don’t have it wide. Unfortunately, it is how it is.”