Weekly update 22/22

What I described last time as an exciting event that awaited us is behind us. It was an enormous job that got off to a somewhat difficult start in the RAI, but which was successfully completed thanks to the perseverance and efforts of all involved. All these people now know how big the RAI is and what a huge exhibition the PLMA food fair is. It is hard to imagine, so many different products.

In a few hours we managed to get three trailers packed with an enormous diversity of foodstuffs. In Sint-Pancras these could be unloaded the same evening/night in a cold store. At the beginning of the evening I really had the feeling this will never work and what have we started. At least an hour later than intended, it worked, unbelievable but true.

On Thursday we were able to immediately start figuring out the foodstuffs, especially between products that must remain cool and others. With refrigerated products, think especially of all types of meat, meat products and dairy products in all kinds of variations. The non-refrigerated products are also very diverse. Of the three trailers, we got a total of two selected.

We were already able to have the clothing bank Egmond divided into this on Thursday, we brought three pallets to it. In addition to clothing, they have also been distributing food to people in trouble for some time now, and in this way they also contribute to the fight against poverty.

A large team from the Christian community De Wittenberg from Soest helped tremendously in the RAI and also in Sint-Pancras with the selection. Some of the collected products went to Soest, a great destination for this.

Friday at 7 o'clock Wim Bos from Weesp was standing in front of the door with a trailer to load for a food distribution point in Amsterdam supported by him. Four pallets were brought here. Wim had also received the request to collect 20 pallets for the Salvation Army in Almere. A versatile organization that offers help in many ways to people who have gotten into trouble. We had made this agreement with the “main contractor” of the job, the Zending over Grenzen foundation from Almere.

On Friday morning, volunteers poured in again to continue the search. This happened at a rapid pace, meanwhile the first Romanian truck came to load with a refrigerated trailer. At about 2:00 pm the job was done and a lot of tension was gone. It gives a good feeling that we have been able to give this enormous mountain of food a good destination.

Mainly due to the size of the whole and because everything was new to us, the start in the RAI showed some hiccups. In general, however, it went just fine and you can learn from mistakes. A number of people have already suggested points for improvement in case an invitation to participate in this event falls on the mat again next year. In that case, we will certainly take these recommendations to heart in order to increase the effectiveness of the collection campaign. We now have experience and know what the bottlenecks are, which makes organizing a lot easier.

We liked the collaboration with Zending over Grenzen and we hope that this will be continued next year.

It is of course great that we could once again appeal to many people to come and help. Without this help the implementation would be impossible.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE THAT MADE THIS POSSIBLE AND WORKED ON IT.

Here is the link to a few photos.

From Romania more and more stories reach us about people getting into trouble because they are short of money and can't pay the bills. In some places, shops are closing due to lack of business. The cause of this relapse continues to throw bombs and cause untold human suffering.

Reghina from Ticau sent pictures about her work. Gerrit van der Starre of the Emeth foundation sent a news flash of the events there.

Here is the link to photos.

Toth Attila from Peris sent a message with photos.

Here is the link to photos.

Henk Muller, who recently moved to Band, does not sit still, always nice to see and read.

Here is the link to photos.

Viorel and Elena from Deaj do a lot for the people in their village and beyond. Just like for the people in the homeless shelter of Tirgu Mures.

Here is the link to photos.

The Veenstra family of the HRIF foundation from Weesp sent a newsletter about their meaningful work.

Here is the link to this newsletter.

The refrigerated trailer, which was loaded on Friday, will probably arrive in Botosani on Tuesday. Cristi and his team have already made the necessary preparations for the spread.

The refrigerated trailer that will bring the last batch to Breaza is expected to arrive shortly after Pentecost.