Packets of rice, bread, tea bags, jars of peas and also care products such as toothbrushes, toothpaste and sanitary towels: the neighborhood cupboard in Tjitske Biersteker-Giljou’s front garden in Den Helder is normally full of them for anyone short on cash. Until last week, when the cupboard was completely emptied for the second time in a short time. “I just think that’s a shame.”
Since the beginning of this year, there has been a well-stocked neighborhood cupboard with food and care products on the tree in Tjitske Biersteker-Giljou’s front garden. Together with her neighbors from the Visbuurt in Den Helder, Tjitske ensures that there is always enough in the cupboard for neighbors with a small wallet. This is also gratefully used every day. But last week it went wrong for the second time: a boy on a bicycle took all the products from the cupboard and then quickly ran away.
“I have it on screen this time. He cycled over very purposefully, looked in the cupboard, cycled away and came back with a large bag. Then he rowed all the products into that bag in one go,” Tjitske explains.
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And that is anything but the way the neighborhood cupboard is normally used. “There are quite a few people around here who can use the products very well. It’s all done very modestly. People take with them what they need and nothing more,” says Tjitske.
Sanitary pads
But unfortunately that didn’t happen last week. Even the packs of sanitary towels, an important and often taken product, ended up in the boy’s bag. “That’s just crazy,” Tjitske concludes.
Tjitske and her neighbors have now filled the cupboard with products again, but a few products are already out. “This morning there was still shampoo and toothpaste. That’s the way it usually goes. People take with them what they really need,” she says.
For the boy who took everything last week, Tjitske left a note on the inside of the door, “It says that we have this boy on camera. As a warning, in the hope that it doesn’t happen again. It means It is true that people who are really in need of things are now missing out,” says Tjitske.