Christmas packages for people who are short on cash and who also have a food allergy: Wilma van Eijk from Waspik was busy all year long. Her whole house was full to be able to make as many packages as possible for this very specific target group. And no package is the same. “I made ninety packages this year,” she says. “And all packages were different, a special package for everyone’s needs.”
December 23 was finally the day that 38-year-old Wilma had been looking forward to all year. Giving away her Christmas packages. “People were so happy to get a package that was made just for them,” she says. “Some of those who came to pick up the packages stayed longer to chat, it was great!”
It was a real maze in Wilma’s house. With a walking stick, she maneuvered between the boxes of donated food piled in her living room. She pulls out a bag of gingerbread mix. This mix is gluten, lactose and sugar free. And quite expensive: you pay fifteen euros for three hundred grams. She got the mix donated and already knows exactly who she’s going to give it to.
“I only sleep an hour and a half a night because of the pain.”
Wilma started making and giving away the packages nine years ago, and she’s been working on it all year. She herself knows how difficult it is to live with a food allergy. Wilma cannot tolerate wheat, sugar, lactose and types of cabbage, among other things. That was the inspiration to make Christmas packages for people who also suffer from this and who don’t have it wide.
But lately things are not as easy as nine years ago. Wilma is also sick herself. She has ME, or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. That’s a disease that can cause the left and right sides of her body to fail. In addition, Wilma suffers from amnesia and she is often exhausted. “I fall more often now that I’m so busy with the packages,” she says. My ribs and legs look black and blue. I sleep an hour and a half a night because of the pain, and that’s a good night.
Yet it is not an option for her to stop making the special Christmas packages. She used to deliver those packages herself, but that is no longer possible. Now the families collect the packages from her home. She has known most of the people she helps for years through a support group, other people come to her through the grapevine.
Fortunately, Wilma is not alone. She receives help from her husband and her 15 and 16 year old sons. Wilma carefully chooses what goes in which package, and her husband and sons ensure that the things are packed.
“I know what I’m doing it for.”
Many specialty products are expensive. And because she no longer works, she is now completely dependent on donations. She shows a small box of bonbons: they are gluten, cow’s milk and sugar free, but fifteen euros per box. Collecting donations is sometimes difficult. Companies do not always want to cooperate or drop out at the last minute. Still, she doesn’t give up. “But I know what I’m doing it for.”