Neighborhood center De Raat in Beilen will remain open. Thanks to a new board and new volunteers, De Raat is open every day from today.
It was a bit of a shock this spring, when a folder fell on Robert Schilstra’s mat with the message that the future of De Raat was in doubt. “I was a user at the time, I was chairman of the neighborhood association for twenty years,” he looks back on his time in De Raat.
Due to a lack of volunteers, however, there was a threat of closure, but he was not aware of this. “We must not let that happen. The community center has a certain function for the neighborhood and perhaps for the whole of Beilen,” was his response.
And that’s what more people thought. Schilstra: “After a violent spring in which it seemed that community center De Raat was dying, Welzijnswerk intervened to see what the enthusiasm was for the building. After an information evening and discussions, enough new volunteers had been found and a new board to going to pull.” Schilstra is chairman of that new board.
“It will not happen that the community center has to stop”, was also the reaction of Diana Geerts. “I said: I want to do everything. The management does, the board does.” She is now responsible for the administrative part: renting the room and scheduling volunteers. “That’s quite a bit of work, but once you’ve got it on with the role, it works. We let the new volunteers get trained by those who already have experience by, for example, working a bar service together.”
Only a manager is still missing, who among other things opens the community center in the evening for the volunteers and ensures that the stock is in order. Schilstra: “Things are being organized for people of all budgets. It is important that everyone can go somewhere to enjoy themselves and have a drink and get a cup of coffee for a reasonable price.”