Just-Care 10th Anniversary!
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We did it again! With the help of colleagues, family and friends we collected kids’ clothing and toys.
For the 10th time, Just-Care managed to deliver X-Mas boxes to VluchtelingenWerk Zuidwest-Nederland. This organization helps refugees with all sorts of aid.
In this anniversary edition, special thanks to:
- HelloFresh who helped sponsor the boxes
- Sandd for organizing a van to take care of the transport
- &Samhoud for arranging blue footballs
- Just-colleagues donating 3 vintage iPads
A couple of simple phone calls showed there are plenty of organizations out there who are willing to help!
Once upon a time
How Just-Care started out 10 years ago: the folks at Just-BI felt the urge to try to make a change in the world. Ideally using our own talents doing what we do best.
This resulted in many initiatives throughout the years:
- Take kids who stay at Mappa Mondo out for a day at Diergaarde Blijdorp.
- Finance a school bus in Bali. The guests at the 5th-anniversary party chipped in for this one. ( I still remember the camel giving them a warm welcome!)
- Financial aid for Wereldkinderen to arrange school supplies in Haiti
- Cook a meal for the volunteers at Voedseldepot IJsselstein
- Offer our BI-expertise to Oxfam Novib in getting their SAP BW environment sorted
- Support North Star Alliance, an organization bringing health services to hard-to-reach populations in Africa. Both financially but also advising in the optimization of data quality in their registration systems.
- And of course our yearly KiKa run with family and friends, running to collect funds for research to cure children’s cancer
Looking into the next decade
For sure we’ll be continuing our KiKa running and X-Mas boxing in the next decade to come.
Another initiative for 2017 we’re exploring is NLdoet. This is the biggest volunteering event in the Netherlands that happens on a yearly basis. You might have heard about it since even our King and Queen are getting their hands and feet dirty. Check it out to see various jobs in your neighborhood, big and small that could use your help.
Next to that we’re checking our network to see how we could help closer to home. With our individual skills in mind, both from a professional and a personal perspective. For example, did you know, we have some mean choir singers and musical stars amidst the Just-consultants? How awesome would that be if we could use what we love to do and at the same time be meaningful to others doing it?
Think big, start small
Looking back I think we can be proud of what we’ve achieved in the last decade. But I feel there is so much more we could do, also on a much smaller scale close to home.
We are all so busy nowadays, pursuing our own happiness. We easily tend to forget that most of us are blessed to be where we are and what we have. It would be good to take a step back once in a while and keep an eye out for those around us that can use a helping hand.
Just practicing Random Acts of Kindness can have small but rippling effects. The other day I was rushing home and from the corner of my eye, I saw a girl hitch-hiking for Rotterdam. Not my destination but I could help her get on her way dropping her at the A4 gas station. There she would have a much better chance of getting a ride to her final destination. So I turned around, taking a 15-minute detour to offer her a ride. She was traveling around Europe for 2-3 months and used Couchsurfing for places to stay. Another great example of people willing to help each other to connect and meet.
I had a great time listening to her story and she was halfway her destination. Tiny effort – win-win!
There is just so much more that we can do. Just buy that Daklozenkrant from the guy at your local supermarket. Or reach out to the elderly lady next door, asking if she needs help with anything. It can be as simple as that.
Just keep the words of the late Michael Jackson in mind, in this special version of his Man in the Mirror. Amen 👼
We do ourselves the most good doing something for others
~ Horace Mann