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.”

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.”