Local Vermont: Soup, Glorious Soup!

Did you know...?

For the past fourteen years, the Full Ladle Soup Kitchen has been a rich and rewarding ministry for many at Christ Church, Montpelier. Every Wednesday, the Soup Kitchen serves a nutritious noon meal to 65-85 guests from the community.

(From the Mountain E-News of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont.)

UPDATE: Willem-Alexander visits Goes today...

UPDATE
Here's an article about the visit. And the video:


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From the front page of the Ruilwinkel, and exchange shop in Goes (Zeeland);nearby is the birthplace of my father and in the same town is Wolphaartsdijk, where my uncle was the village doctor.

Donderdag 27 mei krijgen we hoog bezoek in de Ruilwinkel.
Kroonprins Willem Alexander komt 's morgens naar de ruilwinkel voor een werkbezoek. Het zal een besloten bezoek zijn.
Burgemeester van der Zaag en Gedeputeerde van Waveren zullen ook aanwezig zijn bij dit voor de ruilwinkel toch heel bijzondere moment.

I'll post the group photo, after it's released today.

Yes, in May 2009 the Ruilwinkel was recipient of an "Appeltje van Oranje."

Here are two very, very nice videos by Goes TV (the station films interviews by local youth). The interviews are in Dutch, but clearly the volunteers are proud of their important work and this recognition!

Before they left to travel to The Hague...



The volunteers' reactions after the ceremony give us an idea what happens to an honored group when they go to the ceremony.

Apples of Orange

On May 12th, Princess Máxima of The Netherlands and Co-Patron of the Orange Fund [English] presented [Dutch] the Apples of Orange - Appeltjes van Oranje - to three innovative projects at Noordeinde Palace.

"An Appeltje van Oranje is primarily a gesture of esteem for the work and efforts of the winning organisation and also an example to inspire others to start similar initiatives."

See the photo at the right; the bronze award has been designed by Queen Beatrix, the "Sculptor Queen." HM The Queen and HRH The Prince of Orange were in attendance. One of the Appeltje recipients was a volunteer group in Zeeland.

I was intrigued because this service organisation - Ruilwerk, an exchange/resale shop - is in Goes, near my father's birthplace. (Wolphaartsdijk, where my uncle was a family practice doctor, is in the same municipality.) So I did an on-line search and found a YouTube site with interviews of the workers there.

Here are two very, very nice videos by Goes TV (the station has interviews by local youth). The interviews are in Dutch, but it makes my heart glad to see the clips: clearly the volunteers are proud of their important work and this recognition!

Before they left to travel to The Hague...

Dinsdag 12 mei vertrekken vrijwilligers van de ruilwinkel in Goes naar Den Haag. Daar ontvangen ze uit handen van prinses Maxima een geldbedrag en een beeldje (het Appeltje van Oranje) dat door de koningin is gemaakt. De burgemeester van Goes en een wethouder gaan ook mee. Reportage: Mandy, Bram & Yamie.

The volunteers' reactions after the ceremony give us an insight about what happens to an honored group when they go to the ceremony.

De vrijwilligers van de Ruilwinkel in Goes zijn dinsdag 12 mei naar paleis Noordeinde in Den Haag geweest om uit handen van prinses Maxima een prijs in ontvangst te nemen (het Appeltje van Oranje)....

REMEMBERING BY VOLUNTEERING

UPDATE: Video: Alexander and Máxima today at MADD Day 2009




Today is the anniversary of the deaths of two Dutch queens. Queen Juliana died five years ago on 20th March. Her grandmother queen Emma died 70 years before. (see the photo on left taken at Soestdijk, soooo long ago!).

Today is also the start of a two-day event, Make a Difference Day, a program promoting volunteerism in The Netherlands. Members of the Dutch royal family will take part in MADD at various social service agencies throughout the land.


Last year Queen Beatrix made apple pies for volunteers at a nature center (photo at right). Tomorrow she will put her sculpting talents to work and will help the visually impaired create art at a center in Zeist.

I remember Juliana saying that if she had not been queen, she would have liked to have been a social worker. What a wonderful way for Beatrix to honour the exuberant spirit of her mother.

Volunteering comes in all shapes and sizes. In the US, there was a MADD last October. And Michelle Obama dished out mushroom risotto for the homeless at a soup kitchen earlier this month and promised she'd be back to help. The Dutch royals do the same and quietly return to volunteer, without fanfare, when the cameras are not around.

(Photos are copyrighted & courtesy of BV Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau ANP.)