1/2 Junk from the water fished by eighty entrepreneurs: ‘wants to give something back’
Armed with skewers, pegs, scoop nets and barbs, around eighty directors and drivers of companies have cleaned the Breda canals and new port on Friday. An action by committed entrepreneurs Breda (Bob) who had named the thirteenth on Friday as ‘entrepreneurs make dirty hands day’: “I participate because I would like to give something back to the city.”
“Woehoe, I bite!”, Marleen Pulles shouts enthusiastically. She immediately has a price if she throws her barb on a rope in the water of the Breda harbor. “Oh, too bad, it’s just a plastic bag. And I hope so much on a bike.”
And actually all eighty directors hope for something big. In four groups they stroll the water and the banks on litter. The participants literally make dirty hands. “I already have two bags full of dirt,” says NAC director Remco Oversier, who sits in a boat with a landing net.
“Today, directors free up their agenda all day to make a physical contribution to the city,” says Lieke van Boxtel, director of committed entrepreneurs Breda (BOB). “And they have to work, because we hope to pick up a few hundred liters of litter.”
A little further there is already success. Together with alderman Jeroen Bruijns, the directors Marleen, Brigitte and Stefan fish a large piece of wood from the water. “What would this have been?” Bruijns wonders. “Something of a fence,” says Marleen. “A nice catch, but it’s not a bike.”
“I am present today because I would like to give something back for the city,” says Marleen Pulles, who is director of a production company. “But actually it is a shame that it must be because people do not clean up their stuff themselves. And otherwise it is very nice to get to know other people in this way.”
“It’s a lot different than we normally do during the day, but it is very important,” says Stefan Jorissen, director of Rabobank. “Everyone should actually do their best to make a contribution to make the city more beautiful and better. Together you can achieve a lot.”
“You see more and more boulder everywhere and that is not a face,” says Alderman Bruijns, who also lets his hands flutter. “That the directors here clean the city is great and typical Bredaas to do that together. Cleaning up is really needed.”
“The city embraces me and my company, so then I do that the other way around.”
A little further on, Brigitte van Beurden of employment agency Olympia in the heat works steadily. She has developed her own tactics with the bars to get dirt out of the water. “Dragging the anchor over the bottom and then carefully lifting all the way up,” she explains. “I love it! The city embraces me and my company, so then I do that the other way around. “
In the meantime, Lieke and Marleen have a lucky one. From head to toe under the mud they get a bottle of beer on the quay from a boat with a bachelor group. “Cheers men, and clean up your waste, isn’t it!”
Director Joris looks at the scene laughing. “It’s a wonderful and useful day. Just a pity that I didn’t get a bike out of the water. Because I went for that …”
