City Life Church Assen will continue the Social Shop in Assen in 2024. This means that more than six hundred Assen residents can continue to benefit from free assistance from this volunteer organization.
Coordinator Tirza van Brakel thinks the takeover is “very good news”. She quits after ten years: the work in combination with other obligations and rheumatism problems becomes too heavy. “I had been dreading it for a year,” she says.
The Social Shop is part of the Budget Support Assen foundation. The store is a citizens’ initiative and has ten permanent volunteers, who are also helped by people from City Life Church. Van Brakel, in collaboration with the probation service, has offered vulnerable women a safe workplace and guided social work trainees towards a diploma.
Apart from her physical health, work for the foundation also became mentally difficult for Van Brakel. “Ten years ago you could often find solutions for people who got stuck, but that is no longer the case. The system has become much more complex. Hearing stories every day of people who get stuck, but can no longer think of solutions, is mentally taxing,” says Van Brakel.
By ordinary Assen residents
City Life Church’s offer to take over the work came “like a gift from heaven.” City Life Church and the Social Shop have been working together for some time, for example with the Sinterklaas campaign.
“I wanted to keep the concept as it was and for the store to be continued by Assen residents themselves, so that the threshold remains as low as possible,” says Van Brakel about the takeover. Professional aid organizations, such as the municipal social care and welfare organization Vaart Welzijn, were therefore dropped.
People can register at the Social Shop; If you register with the Food Bank, you are also a member of the Social Shop. “Anyone can come. You can receive three free items per month, for example clothing or care products,” Van Brakel explains. The volunteers also offer other help, for example with a handyman team from the church.
New building
The Social Shop was on Fokkerstraat, but that building was very dilapidated. Last February, part of the suspended ceiling came down, forcing the store to close for weeks. City Life Church has now found a new building for the store at Witterstraat 62a.
“Today the municipal inspection completely wrote off the old building,” says Van Brakel. “So this was meant to be. Otherwise, the store would have to close permanently in January, because this was really no longer possible.”
The Social Shop has two weeks to move: the new store will open from January 16, on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 12 noon and 3 p.m. People can also bring items in between these times.
Van Brakel will remain active as a volunteer next year. “We also provide support as a confidential counselor during discussions with professional organizations and work together with organizations, such as Vaart Welzijn, to refer people. I want to continue doing that.”