The Pak de VIBE project and the De Eik drop-in center in Eindhoven for life with and after cancer will jointly offer Eindhoven youth the opportunity to volunteer with their talents. Several young people have since followed two exploratory workshops.
Pak de Vibe is part of the social service and focuses on young people aged 12 to 18 in this region. Lumens, the municipality of Eindhoven, Brainport, Parmant schools and Parktheater work together, participating young people are supervised by a permanent youth worker. In the collaboration with De Eik, expert volunteers from De Eik will now join in.
No serious problems
“The talent of the young people is central and not the situation in which they find themselves at home,” says Thérèse van den Biggelaar of De Eik. “After all, the young people we have in our picture have (had) to do with cancer in one way or another. But we also want to offer other young people and other groups opportunities. Moreover, such a social internship does not have to be about cancer at all. Help at a golf clinic, for example, or a trip for the people who come to De Eik. It can all be done very lightly, we are really not going to burden such young people with serious problems.”
Bee hotels
Meanwhile, brother and sister Bram and Iris Corten participate in the exploratory workshops and are helped by Johan Verhees, among others, who already has more experience with social service. Making bee hotels is on the program this evening and the young people get to work enthusiastically. Supervisor Johan Verhees explains the importance of these hotels: good for people and nature.
Getting started with saw and drill
The foursome set to work together and soon the sounds of saw and drill sound through the workshop. The youngsters enjoy it. “It’s something different. And we’re doing something good with it too.”