Peuterfonds events Naarden 2009

It’s been almost a year now that Tom, Ruud and Rolf decided to build a foundation that is aimed at giving children with health problems (either mentally or physically) a special day with the main theme being fishing. With all three guys being fanatic fisherman they wanted to do something for the community and so the Peuterfonds was built almost a year ago. The name is partially linked to a nickname for fishermen (peuteraars) and the nickname of Rolf which is The Peuteraar. He is also the one who came up with the idea.

Building a foundation might sound simple but it is not. I’ve stood by the sidelines most of the time, while Tom was busy raising funds and finding sponsors for the events they wanted to hold. And that was hard; people had never heard of them, so were a little sceptical as to their intentions. Companies are not really standing in line to hand out money or supplies if they hear of a new foundation. However, after a while, their name started to get out there and the news spread. A large – and important – sponsor was found in “Sportvisserij Nederland” which is the main organisation within the Netherlands that controls sports fishing and their first event was a big hit. An article was featured in a fishing magazine and from there on things started to be a little bit easier. Last saturday was the fourth event and the last one for this season and I was asked to take photos for this event, which I gladly agreed to.

And it was a really fun day! The weather was fantastic, (especially considering that it poured rain the day after!) and both volunteers and kids had a great time. The kids were picked up in Naarden where we first started with a little boat tour around the canals of Naarden (beautiful old city, if you’ve never been there… you should go!) to eventually drop them of at a meadow where two tents were standing with a cake, donated by Mjam Taart and drinks. Each kid was assigned a volunteer to make sure that someone would be watching the kids the entire time. Not all kids could communicate very well, so it was important to keep a close eye on them the entire time. Each kid had a life jacket on, as we were close to water so to make sure nothing could happen, they had to wear the life jackets. Made all the little orange dots quite recognizable too…

There were three boats, so every child got to make a little fishing trip in a boat, as well as fish by the waterside. Because there was no toilet in the tent, an arrangement was made with the scouting club across the river, to use their toilet. There was a special ‘pee-boat’ that brought the kids back and forth. And because that was such a cool boat (it was the only speedboat) some of the kids had to pee remarkably often…

Every one of the boats caught a big pike and by the waterside it was mainly smaller fish that were caught, but still…. fish were caught! Most importantly the kids got to spend a day by the waterside which is rare for most of them and had a really good time. Not all were born fishermen… but being beside the water, making a little boattour, having lunch with fries (yeah!) and other snacks was sure fun for all of them!

So if you live in Holland, love working with kids and would like to be a volunteer for Het Peuterfonds just have a look at their website for information and who to contact.

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