A drug addiction, debts and no permanent home. Klaas from Hoogeveen has not always had an easy life, but he never gave up. For a number of years he has fought his way back into life.
Klaas’s debts have disappeared and he is working again, he has also put an end to his cocaine addiction. “I used it for twenty years, do you believe it?” he says. “Now I have a handle on the situation and I don’t use anymore, isn’t that nice!”
Through the Salvation Army he has a house in Hoogeveen where he feels completely at home. And he gets by with some money from working, but that is not enough. That’s why he uses the food bank. “And I’m not ashamed of that.”
“I live on a weekly allowance, which is not much, but the food bank gives me a little extra,” he explains. But how does something like this actually work at the food bank? Klaas is taking us along today.
He grabs a backpack from the coat rack and puts some shopping bags in it. He then closes the door behind him and swings the walker towards the food bank. “It’s laid out like a supermarket.”
Once every two weeks he can collect products together with a volunteer who accompanies him. “We visit every rack. From dairy to bread and from peanut butter to meat. You can just take what you need.”
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