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.
Jolanda (58) is buddy
Jolanda (58) 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. Jolanda (58)'s diary is filled with her volunteer work. She is a buddy for four people who need help and experiences all kinds of things with them. 'I'm so glad I took the step to sign up as a volunteer. A few years ago, unfortunately, it was no longer possible to participate in the regular workplace due to physical complaints and my world was getting smaller and smaller. I had already seen the calls for new volunteers in the newspaper for some time and was always hesitant to take the step. Then I thought I can listen and drink coffee and with the encouragement of my husband I finally signed up. When I received the contact details of my first requester (88) from Cordaad Welzijn, I was nervous to call. That turned out to be unjustified, because we chatted for a while and the first visit also went very smoothly. I can say that this requester has become a kind of second mother. Our contact runs so smoothly and we see each other weekly, so I immediately do the shopping for her. This lady even promotes Cordaad Wellbeing to acquaintances of hers who are also elderly, she then emphatically indicates that a buddy can make such a difference and she grants everyone 'a Jolanda'. With my second requester (89) it is never a question of what we are going to do (billiards), at most the location. Because I recently moved, I live a lot closer to this client and we can choose whether we want to roll the billiard balls in my house. By the way, I have to laugh when I think back to our first acquaintance. I was a little nervous because it was an older gentleman and I wasn't sure we had enough to talk about. Out of nervousness I have completely talked about the time and I only realized that when I said goodbye. Fortunately this gentleman opened the front door and said goodbye with the words 'Hope you come again next week?' I also meet weekly with my third client (93). We drink coffee together and chat about anything and everything. The contact with my fourth requester (88) is there when she needs spontaneous help, such as an appointment with the GP and she needs transport. And that also works well for me, we look at each contact moment how I can best help her. Central to all my clients is social contact, seeing each other and keeping company. I am now a buddy of four people seeking help and I think that's enough. I like to give a little extra attention if one of them needs it and I want to continue to do so. And let's be honest, if someone says during the farewell 'when you come it's always a party', doesn't that make you very happy too?' Share these stories and inspire others to help too! Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Whatsapp Forward
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