By Loui Galicia, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
Posted at 07/20/2011 4:21 PM | Updated as of 07/20/2011 4:21 PM
HOLLAND - For more than two decades now, a small community of elderly Dutch has been collecting donations from all over Holland and sending them to the rural areas in the Philippines.
Everyday, big heavy boxes of donations for the Philippines are dropped in a warehouse in Heeten, a tiny community here in Holland of mostly elderly Dutch citizens.
The warehouse will be filled up with boxes of mainly medical supplies and hospital equipment until the day the boxes are loaded for shipment. Every loading day, many elderly Dutch go out of their respective homes in order to assist preparing the crates and filling a 16-wheeler truck.
The huge truck will bring the crates to a shipping company in Rotterdam which will deliver the goods to the Philippines.
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau was invited to witness the loading process. Also present were Vice Mayor Roger de Groot and several staff from the Philippine Embassy led by Charge d’Affaires Frank Cimafranca.
After the last crate was successfully squeezed into the truck, the door was closed and locked.
But the last step is always symbolic. De Groot and Cimafranca jointly put the lock on the door of the truck, signifying the solid ties that remain between the Dutch and Filipinos.
This was the scene, for more than two decades now, at the Foundation Center Relief Supplies Heeten Philippines or HHCP.
HHCP is headed by couple Jo and Truus Schoorlemeer, who initially set up a group that collects goods for the depressed areas in the Philippines to help Jo’s now-deceased brother, who was a missionary in Philippines in the 90s.
“Exactly on the 16 of August this year, we'll be 21 [years] because we started in 1990 with the earthquake in Baguio. That’s the way we started collecting goods for the Philippines,” Jo said.
In fact, the couple just recently received medals from Queen Beatrix for their continued charity work for the Philippines.
The couple received the Knight of the Order of Queen Orange of Nassau, which is the highest award bestowed on a civilian.
Their hard work also did not go unnoticed in the Philippines as they received a medal from former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2008.
HHCP has already extended its gigantic help to many provinces in the Philippines, particularly in the hospitals in Camiguin, Bicol and Batanes.
As a token of gratitude on the day of the loading, a group of Pinays who are married to Dutch nationals and who are living close to Heeten, came over to serenade the elderly Dutch during their break from loading the crates.
“They're here to also, you know, to give thanks to the foundation here in Heeten that is helping our countrymen back home. It's really a very, very, significant event for all of us,” Cimafranca said.
Even de Groot cannot help but marvel at the magnanimity of the work and the volume of goods during loading.
He was impressed at the Dutch Pinays’ musical number but was more in awe of his fellow countrymen’s dedication and hard work for the Philippines.
“I am very impressed and I love the songs from the Philippine women and it was very good. It’s very good what the volunteers are doing for the Philippines,” de Groot said.
Jo and Truus are not getting any younger, yet they still do not plan to retire from running the foundation because they said that they have left, a long time ago, their hearts in the Philippines.
SOURCE: WWW.ABS-CBNNEWS.COM
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/07/20/11/small-town-holland-helps-pinoys-big-time
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