73-year-old Greta Luning from Meppel was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau this afternoon. Luning receives the award for her volunteer work.
She is the founder of Surviving Suicide Drenthe. She has been a board member since 1998. The foundation is committed to caring for people who have lost someone to suicide. Luning and her organization also want to make grief after suicide more open to discussion. Luning lost her brother in 1990 and later founded the foundation.
Henny Roos, who later also became a board member, previously said at RTV Drenthe that she found a lot of support from Luning’s foundation. “I found recognition there. At a certain point you even think you are going a bit crazy, but if someone has experienced the same thing, it is so nice.”
Luning also receives the royal award for other volunteer work. For example, between 1988 and 1995 she was a prompter for the Drenthe Association Harm Smeenge Diepenveen. From 2000 to 2003 and from 2015 to 2021 she was chairman of the Vrouwen Van Nu association in Ansen. She was also a prompter at the theater association De Boermerang between 2003 and 2014. In that role, she also committed herself to the Ruinen Open Air Game Foundation.