Anneke from the Volunteer Center
From buddy to handyman and from driver to reader: there are approximately 250 volunteers active for Cordaad Welzijn in Veldhoven. In the 'Stories' series you discover exactly what they do and what this work means to them.
Anneke (69) has enjoyed working as a practical support team member at Vrijwilligerswerk Veldhoven for almost ten years now. This is part of Cordaad Welfare.
Anneke ensures that those seeking help are linked to the volunteers of Cordaad Welzijn. This is usually done by telephone. Anneke really enjoys her work and is committed to helping the people of Veldhoven.
Before starting as a volunteer at Cordaad Welzijn, Anneke worked at the post office for over thirty years. Anneke talks about her career: “during the financial crisis of 2008/2009, the independent post offices closed and it was a difficult period to find work.” She decided to volunteer.
At the time, Anneke read an appeal from Cordaad Welzijn in the newspaper. At the tennis club she also heard all kinds of positive stories about doing volunteer work from her tennis partners. She contacted Cordaad Welfare. There they were looking for a team member for practical support and after a nice introductory meeting she could start right away.
Anneke explains: “I answer the telephone together with my colleagues and I do all kinds of administrative work. I am mainly involved in making contact between our clients and volunteers.” This work provides many wonderful experiences, she says. “I meet a lot of grateful people, and that's very nice to see. For example, we have an older lady with physical complaints, I immediately feel happy when I hear her voice over the phone. She is so grateful when you arrange a volunteer for her to do a job. I also like all our volunteers who are always ready and who are willing to give a lot for others.”
After a few years of pleasant work at Cordaad Welzijn, she discovered that the hospital was also looking for volunteers. In addition to her work at Cordaad Welzijn, she also had the opportunity to volunteer there one morning a week as a hostess. She has been doing this voluntary work for almost four years now and she enjoys the combination of working at the two different workplaces. In addition to her many hobbies, it keeps her busy.
April 2022
Annie (70) is buddy
Annie (70) is buddy From buddy to handyman and from driver to reader: there are approximately 250 volunteers active for Cordaad Welzijn in Veldhoven. In the 'Stories' series you discover exactly what they do and what this work means to them. Annie (70) has been doing voluntary work for years and is committed to Cordaad Welfare as a buddy. She likes to offer people seeking help practical help. 'When I stopped working, I signed up as a volunteer. Over the years I have been a buddy of various people seeking help and have often offered driver services. My strengths are administration and keeping an overview and I use these qualities as a buddy. For years I have been a buddy of an elderly blind person seeking help to guide him through the administration and e-mail. I quickly learned that although there are modern means to help a blind person, unfortunately not every website or form is suitable for this and so help from a sighted person is needed. After the death of this requester, I remained a buddy for his visually impaired wife and I also help her with the administration. In addition, I am a buddy for a person who needs help who has great difficulty filling in official documents due to illness and disorders. Only then do you realize how complex a questionnaire can be and how many difficult words the government uses. We spent many hours together trying to get through it. Thanks to Cordaad Welzijn, I have now been linked to clients several times and in fact these have always been years of processes. You come to someone's home for concrete help and the contact often expands further. One thing leads to another, as it were. I'm a buddy myself, but I prefer to call myself buddy of everything, because everything comes my way. I always say you help by doing, but I think it's important that you also enjoy it yourself. It's actually quite simple: Someone needs help, you offer it, and both parties are happy with it. If you're considering volunteering, you have a wide range of volunteering types to choose from. Then choose something that appeals to you, it is always good because it suits you. One likes to offer a listening ear, and the other likes to be practical. Volunteering has to fit you in and you have to click with the person requesting help, then you have a good basis to start from!' The image shows painting 'Portrait Gallery', made by Annie. Share these stories and inspire others to help too! Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Whatsapp Forward
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