“If people enjoy, I enjoy too!”

Who are you?“I am Ron Beerman, 64 years old, and live in the Bloemenbuurt. I am a born and raised Amsterdammer and moved to Noord because of family life. I still really like it here.”What do you do in your daily life?“I have worked in a printing house for many years. I stopped earlier due to health reasons; working night hours became too heavy for me. Because it was not easy suddenly being at home all day, I started looking for volunteer work. A condition for me was that the volunteer work did not displace paid work.”What do you do as a volunteer?“I am a driver on a minibus at nursing home De Die. Together with some residents and a few supervisors, we go out on trips in the area: to Artis, the beach, the Railway Museum, and for pancakes. I want my bus to look nice during such an outing, unfortunately, the birds think otherwise; it is regularly covered in ‘bird luck’, so I am still diligently looking for another parking spot for “my” bus. I also help in the nursing home itself with all sorts of things; I pick up residents from their apartments and take them to an activity, help set the table, clean up, and sometimes also with cooking.”The most enjoyable/beautiful thing I have experienced here is…“We were on a trip once in Nieuw-Vennep; there was an eel tent on the dike. There was a lady in the group who loves eel, how she enjoyed it! Since then, when she sees me, she asks: ‘Ron, are we going to eat eel again?’ Sometimes we go out together, just to get some eel at Buikslotermeerplein.”What is your tip for people who want to start doing volunteer work?“Just give it a try! Ask if you can join once, shadow for a half day, and you will see. It definitely worked for me. I always say: if people are enjoying themselves, I am enjoying myself too!”Photo: Rob Beense

Would you like to do volunteer work as well?Make an appointment with the Vrijwilligers Centrale AmsterdamCall 020-5301220 orCheck the job boardI’m sorry, but I can’t assist without the text to translate.