Fair February

*This is a double post covering both Sunday the 4th and Monday the 5th*

Due to very much foreseen circumstances, I am catching up on two days’ worth of writing in one go. C’est la vie! Both days, however, are connected by the common theme of giving back to the community, albeit through different avenues – volunteering on one day and making a material donation on the other. Sharing, whether it’s your time, skills, possessions, passion, or resources, is indeed a form of caring.

While it might sound like a big task, finding opportunities to make a local impact – no matter how big or small – can be an adventure in itself. First things first, think about what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing. You don’t want it to feel like you’re working overtime on your days off, right?

Take a moment to check out your strengths. What are you naturally good at? Knowing your strengths helps you figure out where you can shine and make a real difference. Next, consider what gets *you* going. Maybe you’re into education, the environment, or community empowerment. Find that sweet spot where your interests match up with ways you can give back.

At the end of the day, it does not have to be about doing something huge; even the small stuff adds up. Have fun with it, and know that every bit counts towards building a kickass local community!

Now for some background. My first volunteering experiences date back to my student days when it was a chaotic mix of doing things for the lolz fun or actually trying to pick new skills. Depending on the time of the year and how busy school was, I would help out with different projects on campus (e.g., orientation days, go-abroad fairs or research studies) or run bbqs at a local hostel. One particularly restless busy summer, I went on to volunteer at an English-language summer camp for Hungarian mid- and high school students. The success rate of all these activities varied but overall, it sure was interesting! 🌞

These days, it is more about intention and making good use of time. Besides evenings and weekends, I can take up to two days off work each year for any volunteering activity of one’s choice. On top of that, once a year, the entire office joins forces to lend a hand to a local project.

As of the writing of this blog, my efforts are shared between Serve the City and De Sering, two organisations with very different premises. I see them both as ways to give something back to and express my appreciation for the city in which I am so happy to live.

Serve the City is a 🌍 global 🌎 movement of volunteers “showing kindness in personal ways to people in need.” In short, it is dedicated to enhancing the well-being of our cities by supporting vulnerable and marginalized populations in urban areas, fostering resource-sharing and nurturing a sense of communal responsibility.

The Amsterdam chapter of this organisation has so many opportunities at any given point it can be difficult to choose one. In the past. I have spent time at a petting farm where sheds and barns needed some attention (animals, of course, received plenty of love too), cooked food for refugees, painted the walls of a crisis shelter, and gardened at social housing. It is safe to say that all of these experiences – besides providing an opportunity to connect with Amsterdam in a new way – have been a great reality check that I need every once in a while.

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De Sering, established in 2019 as a community kitchen, originated from a group of Extinction Rebellion activists. Over time, the community has expanded to welcome students and local residents as well as to host lectures, movie screenings, and more. It currently provides a space for various social and neighbourhood groups, offering affordable vegan food (soup, main, homemade bread and dips for a donation between €2.5 and €7.5) so as to enable people to allocate more time to causes they care about.

This winter, I started coming to De Sering on weekends (pictured above) to help out with food preparation, cleaning and housekeeping – not only do I get to learn new recipes, it is also a fun crowd of like-minded people.

To sustain their initiatives, they introduced TestTafel in 2021, a foundation and a more upscale dining concept that generates additional income to run the community kitchen. At the moment TestTafel serves its vegan seven-course menu four days a week, with the menu changing on a weekly basis. The price for the full experience is donation-based, ranging between €35 and €65.

I have been to TestTafel a couple of times before and have another visit booked this month (it will be featured in the blog), and all I can say is that it is a true culinary adventure!

Sunday, February 4th

WHAT A SUCCESSFUL DAY! Since I was out the whole time, my footprint was next to zero. We did a big food prep with other volunteers at De Sering, where we also got to have (vegan 🧡) dinner afterwards. That meant NO waste of any kind at home and only scraps/organic waste in the community kitchen.

To sum up, this is the day’s progress:

SUCCESS	FAIL
Vegan food	Publishing Sunday’s blog lol
NO WASTE AT ALL woop woop 🎉
Unplug devices that are not in use
Five-minute shower
Volunteering

Monday, February 5th

Two colleagues of mine have organised a collection of clothes and household items to be donated to Venzo. Established in 2007, this non-profit serves as a connecting platform for social initiatives, bridging the gap between supply and demand in the realm of volunteering. It is also a non-profit serving the community of Amsterdam Zuidoost, running initiatives such as afterschool clubs and local trips for children and youth, and the distribution of clothes, toys and other materials to people in need. 

So far, more than a dozen boxes have been filled up with contributions. Mine was a very modest one of a few shirts and dresses – and it would have been one more (pictured right) had I not got super nostalgic because I wore that dress on my 19th birthday (if any of you reading this were there — please message me 😆). As I did not have the heart to part ways with something so 1) vintage, 2) sentimental (in other words, I might be a soppy hoarder), I perhaps could revive this piece with the help of a tailor/seamstress.

For the sake of full disclosure, I have to underline that initiatives like this one are not uncommon in our office. Another lovely colleague signed everyone volunteers up for a 10K run where they raised €600 for UNICEF just a couple of months ago, followed by the so-called reverse advent calendar (instead of taking items out, you’d add things based on a suggested list) leading up to Christmas.

Other challenges that I tackled today were vegan food (living off my leftovers), no single-use plastic (AT LAST), compost (still going strong), unplugging devices that are not in use (did not even have to unplug them again), five-minute shower (nailed it), bike to work (almost got blown off in the river, thx Dutch weather), and donation of clothes that will be put to better use by someone else. My office is so far the only place I can think of where I use the lift regularly, and today I just forgot about the stairs. Another attempt tomorrow! 💃

To sum up, this is today’s progress:

SUCCESS	FAIL
Vegan food	Use stairs instead of elevator
No single-use plastic	Go paperless (printed shipping label 😪)
Unplug devices that are not in use
Compost (coffee + fruit peels)
Five-minute shower
Bike to work (🌪️🌪️🌪️)
Donation of clothes