11th of April 2019

Hi dear followers,

Last Thursday I hosted an event in Amsterdam together with NL-cares as part of the ‘night of the volunteer.’ This initiative supports new volunteers to help out once during an event which brings people together and provides a special night. Most activities are special and organized to provide minorities with a remarkable night.

NL-cares provided multiple activities in Amsterdam on Thursday and everyone could participate. In Amsterdam itself, 250 volunteers joined the night at multiple events. Teams from multinationals came for the night and many core volunteers hosted the nights. They organized bingo’s, pancake-night, dances, storytelling evenings, many dinners and night walks in the park.

Tables were set for the Silent Dinner – including sign language descriptions

I hosted the silent dinner at SDWA Amsterdam where a group of death citizens of Amsterdam had a three-meal-course together with a group of lawyers from ‘De Jonge Balie.’ In between courses we played games and changed seats in order to get to know as many different people as possible. During the evening everyone was requested to wear stay silent and wear earplugs. This way everyone was forced into using sign language. The evening became a huge succes, mainly because every volunteer learned a lot about sign language and they got out of their comfort zone quickly. The people of SDWA who joined us, had a remarkable night and got to meet a lot of new people which develops a positive mindset towards acceptance and respect.

Winning team of the night!
Everyone who joined our silent dinner

I personally loved to host this dinner as I saw so many people connecting and enjoying their first voluntary job. You could really see it’s something new to them and it surprised them having so much fun. I hope it will motivate them do more in the future.

NL cares arranged a drink afterwards for all 250 volunteers which was a lot of fun. Such a relaxed vibe and so many like-minded people, it was a privilege to be there and to help out!

Will you join us two next year?