The 9-year-old Sten Janssen from Eindhoven can hardly believe it a day later. On Christmas Day, he was named Brabander of the year 2022 with his knife sharpening campaign for charity. After the TV broadcast, he was buried with sweet and heartwarming messages from friends and family.
The final of the Brabander of the Year program was already recorded in Efteling at the beginning of last week. The program was broadcast on Christmas Day. All this time Sten was not allowed to say anything about it. “When people asked if I had won, I just told them to watch TV on Christmas Day,” says Sten on the couch at home one day after the broadcast.
Sten won the hearts of many people from Brabant with his knife sharpening action. The 9-year-old boy lost his brother to brain stem cancer. He decided to sharpen knives to raise money for research into the treatment of that terrible disease. He has already raised 45,000 euros with his campaign.
“Wow, hero.”
The family watched the broadcast on Sunday with family and friends who still knew nothing. “Sten should have kept it quiet for so long. Now we have been able to make it an enthusiastic moment together,” says his father Paul.
The bronze Brabander of the Year statuette now stands in a special place in the living room: next to the urn of his deceased brother. Even though he is now Brabander of the Year, he doesn’t want to know anything about stopping grinding for charity. “I’ll just keep going, even when I’m a grandpa later.”
“I mainly did it for my brother, hopefully he is proud.”
After the broadcast, the loving messages poured in to Sten. “Wow, hero” and “Congratulations! More than justified Brabander of the Year!!”, Sten reads from a selection of messages he has received. “How well deserved and what a very loving family.”
He enjoys all the praise. “This is very nice.” His father adds: “We did not expect that it would have such an effect.”
Neither does Stone. He is proud, but he also remains level-headed. “I mainly did it for my brother, hopefully he is proud.” Well, we certainly know that Sten.
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