He is only 6 years old, but Daan Hamels from Chaam wanted to do something to help the victims of the war in Ukraine. He therefore collects empty bottles throughout the village. The deposit goes to a good cause. The counter is now at more than 400 bottles.
“I saw in the evening on the Jeugdjournaal that other children were doing this and wanted this myself,” says Daan. The next day he immediately put his money where his mouth is. He made a poster, picked up his handcart and asked his mother, brother and sister to come along.
‘Action, empty bottles for Ukraine!’ reads the homemade poster. “Hi, do you have any empty bottles for Ukraine?” he says when people open the front door. “Most people will give something if they don’t have bottles of money,” explains Daan.
He also has garbage bags at the gate at home where people can throw their empty bottles. He has since collected 411 bottles, both small ones of 15 cents and large ones of 25 cents.
“In three days. Every day I put them in big garbage bags and hand them in at the supermarket.” His brother and sister had seen it after one day, but Daan has been busy for three days.
“And I’ll go on for a few more days. People drink all the time so they have empty bottles again,” says the persistent. Sorting the bottles is a lot of work, because not every bottle is accepted at every supermarket. “I’m taking them to Lidl and COOP.”
His mother deposits the money on Giro 555 of the collaborating aid organizations.