Spelweek Noordenveld won the Volunteer Award from the Noordenveld municipality this afternoon. That happened at the annual Volunteer Party in Nietap.
In Café Dussel, twelve nominated volunteer organizations were put in the spotlight by the municipality. De Spelweek won 500 euros, as volunteer organization of the year. The fact that the Spelweek mainly has young people in the organization spoke in their favor.
Ronald Uilenberg was delighted with the prize. “It’s fantastic and above all a recognition for what we do,” he said. “We work with fifty volunteers to set up a fun week for primary school children every year. Of those 50 volunteers, about 80 percent are young people.”
The Volunteer Party is organized every other year. Volunteers and organizations are central, says Jos Sanders of the Noordenveld municipality. “It’s a bit of appreciation to the volunteers.”
But it is also a kind of disguised appeal. “We see that associations find it more difficult to find volunteers,” he says. “It is especially difficult for foundation boards. We hope that by giving attention to volunteer work, more people will think: maybe we can do something too.”
The check for 500 euros was presented by alderman Kirsten Ipema. She emphasized that she would have preferred to give a prize to all twelve nominations. “It’s good to see so many volunteers come to Nietap today. We didn’t really expect such a large group.”
In any case, the prize money is well spent, says Ronald Uilenberg. “We are going to buy new polo shirts. The ones we have now are worn out.”