Serve The City has it’s hectic days, and it’s calmer days. Today was one of those relativly calmer days, giving organisor Anton a moment to breathe, because tomorrow he will face a whirlwind of volounteers running through the office, eager to serve where they can.
The morning went by peacefully at the epic centre of Serve The City (aka the office). T-shirts were washed and dried, copies were made, but most of all: crazy new idea’s were born to meet the needs of this town. As a lovely Chinese volounteer put it: “The biggest need of this city? Sunlight!” Who can disagree with that? As a sollucion we thought of a room at the office with a lot of warm, artificial sunlight, an ultra soft sand-coloured carpet, sea-sounds and beach chairs, so people can come and relax, enjoying the one place in Leuven that would always sunny. Ah, the STC office… place were brilliant ideas are born!
In the afternoon, two cheerful boys went down Ridderstraat,where many low-income families live, to reach out to them. They put flyers in the mailbox of each house, informing the families that STC wants to help them. Michiel: “I chose this project because it fit right into my shedule. I also felt like doing something outside, so I subscribed together with my friend Christof. It was a lot of fun! Only were we done much earlier then planned, because we were quickly out of flyers.”
Another brave flyerer was Doreen, who handed out flyers for Oikonde, an organisation that helps to integrate handicapped people into society. You may know them from their student houses where people with a handicap share a house with students.
My day ended in a nice and surprising way. I payed a visit to Fabotta, a place where children of the Ridderbuurt can come after school. Maureen (resp. of Fabota): “We work with children who start out in life not having the same chances as other kids because of the fiancial background of their families. Education is one of the ways they can get an equal chance in life. So we organise a homework class, where volounteers come by to help with their homework. The kids come by after school, and it’s pretty great! I’m happy with our homework project. The only thing I regret is that our volounteers change a lot. These children have little continuity in their life: for example, some of them move a lot or change schools. So it would be nice if they could have some stability here and build a relationship with the volounteers. Speaking of which, we’re always looking for new ones…
I’m inmediatly interested! As I sit down to interview STC volounteer Bob, who loves to work with children, I automatically start helping a little boy who having a problem with his math homework. It’s so lovely! The child is very sweet and it’s a thrill when he finally understands his assignment. I feel proud and happy! Bob and I end up talking to Maureen to come on a weekly basis, we would love to be part of this nice, loving place where children can be helped and loved.
Okay everyone, that’s it for the 1st of march, stay tuned for more stories from different reporters, and don’t forget to check the awesome pics on the website!
Freya
Categories: Blog, Stories
THANK YOU AMAZING VOLUNTEERS FOR YOU WILLINGNESS TO SERVE ON MAY 4/5
