Tim Doornewaard, director of community center De Meevaart in East Amsterdam, received alarming reports from various quarters about neighbors in financial distress. He could no longer stand it and united volunteers to help the less fortunate.
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In times of corona, he and other community centers came up with a concept based on the phenomenon of ‘postponed coffee’. With that idea, someone buys a cup of coffee in advance for someone else who can’t afford it. Doornewaard now offers local residents the opportunity to buy a meal for six euros. With this you not only buy a healthy snack for yourself, but also for someone else. “The other meal is put in the fridge. People who are having financial difficulties can then take the meals out of the fridge anonymously,” says Doornewaard. The food is prepared by volunteer neighborhood chefs. Often residents with a distance to the labor market.
“I believe in the power of the neighborhood and a joint approach to achieve an intended goal”
More initiatives
The concept of meals appears to be a success. They are gratefully taken from the community center on Balistraat. “Often there is a fixed group of people who come by. The numbers vary from about 10 to 15 people per day.” According to Doornewaard, there is therefore no question of stopping for the time being. In fact, he wants to expand the initiative even further.
For example, he is further developing the ideas of a ‘Community Kitchen’, or a kitchen for the neighbourhood, and he wants to breathe new life into his own initiative. “I want to further increase neighborhood participation by involving as many residents as possible with different cultures, from poor to rich, in shopping and cooking. By bringing different cultures together, we can serve dishes from all over the world.”
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Reduce gap
Doornewaard believes it is important to make a contribution. He notes that we are currently facing many social challenges: “The gap between rich and poor is increasing. The government cannot solve this alone. We need the community for that. No one in the Netherlands should have to go to bed hungry.”
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With its initiatives, Doornewaard strives for a fairer society. “I hope to be able to close the gap between rich and poor more and more and to give people a chance to dream again.”
The tip from Tim Doornewaard:
“There are many people with good ideas, but ultimately it depends on the implementation. You have to have a good composition of people. That requires entrepreneurial ability. But the most important thing is: make use of the knowledge and skills of people from the society, a connecting force and a common goal. This is how you ultimately ensure a resilient society together.”
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