Tijn (8) not only donated his Christmas present, but set up an entire fundraiser for "men without homes.
Contributing together to a more social world
.Cyrille, Tijn's mother does the talking: "Tijn got one hundred euros from us at Christmas to donate to charity. But, it didn't stop there. He wanted to set up a fundraiser for the 'men without homes'. So he mobilized his friends - and his mother. The donations added up very quickly: I have quite a large network because of my own business, and before we knew it, the hundred euros that started it all had suddenly become five hundred euros for De Regenboog Groep! My call on LinkedIn was also answered by a large outdoor store here in Haarlem. At their store we could take away no less than 4,500 euros worth of gear for that five hundred euros! Isn't that wonderful, such a company that has also had a terribly hard time for two years and then donates so much?
Collection & distribution drive
I think it's important that Tijn is doing this and also doing it of his own accord. He understands that just giving money is pretty good, but doing a little more is even better. We went with him and some of his friends to De Regenboog's walk-in centres. There you also see young people sitting there who have had bad luck. People like you and me. I think it's important that Tijn knows how good he has it and that there are other people who don't have it so good. I really believe that when you teach children to be social at a young age, you make the world a better place. You are contributing to a more social world. That's also how I was raised by my parents. And I have a huge collecting and distributing urge, so we just keep going! There are already underpants, five hundred umbrellas and two hundred pairs of socks on the way. Yes, we try to listen carefully to what is needed. De Regenboog is in our hearts you know, haha!"
.Text: Sander Kersten and Jola Gosen | Image: Tessa Posthuma de Boer
Do like Tijn and donate.