Charlie (56) cooks dinner for neighbors every other week on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Community Center Olympus. As a Brit in Amsterdam, he discovered that volunteering not only helped him learn the Dutch language but also find his place in the city. “I feel like I really belong here.”

Jack, 35 years old, volunteers once a week at Cordaan’s day care center. “I live in a Safehouse myself,” Jack says candidly. “I am a recovering addict. For me, my most important activities are sports, meetings, and volunteer work.”